Graphidimension Ruby
by Shadow's Forge
Summary: A young woman's body and home are shattered. A team of young goddesses travel to a new land to investigate sightings of a new enemy. A young girl is chosen to wield a terrifyingly potent power. Amidst it all, a dark entity watches, readying itself to strike.
1. Foreward & Glossary

**FOREWARD**

This started out in the Hyperdimension Neptunia subreddit as a crossover idea between Hyperdimension Neptunia and RWBY, with Ruby turning out to be a long lost graphics-based goddess who made her way into Remnant. I took the idea and ran with it, though along the way the direct crossover idea went somewhere else and got left with characters who, while based on RWBY characters, are technically original characters. Blame Kuletxcore.

* * *

 **NATIONS OF GRAPHICARD**

 **EMDI** \- Calling a small island its home, the nation of Emdi stands between Vida and Entel in sheer size. In the past, it was one of the weakest nations until it annexed the nearby Aiteye territories. Presently, its technological growth is in the middle ground between Vida's breakneck advancement and Entel's slow, methodical development. Emdi is seeking to gain more in the joint hardware market, but is seeing tough competition from the established giant, Entel. Emdi is led by a single GPU who is supported by several IGPUs. Emdi is situated west of Entel and northwest of Vida.

 **ENTEL** \- Sprawled over a small continental landmass, Entel is simultaneously known for its incredibly dense population and the incredible efficiency and cross compatibility of its technology. Enjoys good diplomatic relationships with both Emdi and Vida, and oftentimes serves as a mediator for the two. Due to some odd vagaries in how Entel's Share energies are handled, Entel does not have a GPU; instead, three unusually powerful IGPUs serve as joint executives of their nation and senior leaders for the other IGPUs. Entel lies east of Emdi and north of Vida.

 **VIDA** \- Claiming a small archipelago, Vida is the smallest polity in Graphicard. Its small size, however, is not indicative of weakness, as its technology is easily the most advanced in Graphicard. Vida keeps to itself almost to the point of isolationism, and their technology reflects this mindset; while incredibly powerful, Vida technology is notoriously difficult to integrate into other nations systems in joint projects. Vida boasts a total of four GPUs, but does not have any IGPUs. Vida sits south of Entel and southeast of Emdi.

* * *

 **GLOSSARY**

 **GPU (Governance Patron Unit)** \- Individuals who directly harness Share energy to boost their physical abilities to superhuman levels. While immortal, GPUs can be killed in battle. When a GPU dies, the mantle of their energy is released and seeks out an individual within their nation. Because of their direct connection to their region's Share energy, GPUs can suffer adverse effects if their Share energy fluctuates strongly. GPUs serve as the foremost guardians and executives of their nations.

 **IGPU (Intermediate Governance Patron Unit)** \- Individuals who harness residual Share energy to boost their physical abilities to superhuman levels. IGPUs are not truly immortal like GPUs, but are extremely long lived. IGPUs generally cannot achieve CORE and commonly complement their natural abilities with SHADR units. Because they are not directly drawing upon Share energy, they are less vulnerable to Share fluxes. IGPUs are, interestingly, more efficient at processing Share energy, but do not have the raw capacity of a true GPU. The manifestation of an IGPU is seemingly random and without any definitive precedents or signs. IGPUs commonly serve as deputies to their nation's GPU, though freelance IGPUs are not uncommon.

 **CORE (Condensed Overdrive REsonance)** \- The act in which a GPU (or rarely an IGPU) draws in Share energy to massively increase their power for a limited time. CORE augments GRAFX units and manifest powerful defensive armor.

 **GRAFX (GeneRated Armament Frame eXternal-type)** \- Weapon system manifested by GPUs and IGPUs. They are manifested share energy shaped by the will of the user. GRAFXs can have multiple configurations, depending on the owner.

 **SHADR (Supplementary HArdware DeRivative)** \- Auxillary powered armor units for GPUs or IGPUs. Though they do not have the same raw power as a true CORE manifestation, SHADR units consume relatively little Share energy and can stay active for much longer. Like GRAFXs, SHADRs are manifested Share energy. Rarely used by GPUs, who have CORE armor.


	2. Prologue

_**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**_

 **by** **Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Prologue: Sky On Fire**

* * *

The girl had just wanted a bowl of soup.

It had happened so suddenly. The sun was beginning to set on the island nation of Emdi, and the girl had skipped along the seaside wharf towards her favorite food place, which served the best seafood chowder in the nation.

She had just wanted a bowl of soup.

But there was a horrific sound, an eerie flash, and then the sky was burning.

Too stunned by the suddenness of it all, the girl could only stare up at the sky as people around her screamed and fled. Blades of flame and thunder lashed the ground, burning horrified citizens to cinders where they stood.

By chance, claws of fiery death die not strike the girl, and she could only stare as _things_ appeared out of twisting maws that gaped, impossibly, in the sky.

At first, she thought they were an impossible number of IGPUs, the Intermediate Governance Patron Units of the Graphicard region, manifesting their Supplementary Hardware Derivative powered armors.

But they couldn't be. They didn't wear the red of Emdi, or the green of Vida, or the blue of Entel. They were simply black.

And they all, every single one of them, looked identical.

The creatures began to drop from the sky onto the shrieking populace, rending with bladed arms any they could reach. As blood flowed around her, sheer terror finally jolted her into motion. She ran as fast as she could.


	3. Chapter 1

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

Ruby sat down on the bed and pouted. She didn't want to, especially not to Kaveri, but dangit...

"Ruby, I told you, Radeon asked for help tonight. I'm not going to say no."

"Tonight's soup night. You promised we'd never miss soup night."

She heard Kaveri sigh. "I know, I know. I don't like it anymore than you do. But... it's just... Urgh." She watched her sister make a face, like she'd bitten into a real sour lemon. Kaveri was not the talky type. Her sister usually liked to punch things. "How about this Ruby? Go and get dinner tonight, and tomorrow we'll have replacement soup night. Deal?"

It really wasn't Kaveri's fault. Her sister was an IGPU, basically a mini goddess, here in Emdi. Yeah, yeah, sure, in Emdi IGPUs didn't answer to the government, which by extension meant Emdi's GPU, Radeon. They didn't _have_ to do whatever Radeon ordered. That said, it was kind of traditional for IGPUS to be... what was the word? Oh yeah, _deputized_ , if Radeon needed help with something.

Since Radeon wasn't a _mini_ goddess, it was pretty rare. When it did happen, though, it was, like, really random.

On normal days all Kaveri did was assignments for the guild, like decapitating dangerous monsters, hunting for rare items, helping animals (kitties!) out of trees, stuff like that. When Radeon called on Kaveri—and sometimes some of the other independent IGPUs—it usually meant there was some tension between the other nations or there was a dangerous monster sighting.

She let up on the pouting because it was starting to not be cool. And, really, she wasn't a little kid anymore. "Okay, okay, sounds good." She paused and looked Kaveri in the eye. She might not be a kid, but she was still a little sister. "But you better not be busy tomorrow. If you do, I'll get the scissors."

With that last word her sister's face went blank. Most people looked at that expression for about three seconds, then started running—screaming optional—in the opposite direction.

"Ruby..." she heard her sister warn.

"And the electric razor, and the curling irons, and the black hair dye. And then..." She made snipping motions.

Kaveri went completely still. Her sister's hair, long, blonde, and really fluffy, swayed a bit as Kaveri cocked her head. Her sister was, well, _reaaaally_ protective of that hair.

"Ruby..." Kaveri growled. At _this_ point, people were on their hands and knees, begging to not be horribly murdered to death.

She looked at Kaveri, right in the eye. "Snip, snip."

Her sister stared at her coldly. Um. Okay, if she did this right, she might be able to dive past Kaveri out the bedroom door. If she passed under their dinner table, weaved around the sofa, she might make it outside where she'd have a chance to—

Kaveri's lips arched into a grin.

"All right, it's all over for you now."

And then she was running like nuts because Kaveri was going to tickle the hell out of her.

* * *

Ruby didn't get away. Of course she wouldn't. _Geeeeez_.

* * *

Kaveri extended her left hand slightly, palm up. She sent a quick mental command to her palmtop for current time. Microscopic optics embedded in her glove flashed a holographic projection of the current... time. Ah, dammit.

17:50. She was going to be late. And as much as Radeon was chill about things, despite being a GPU and all, Kaveri hated not getting things right. Must be IGPU pride or something. Or not wanting to look like a flake. Yay, professionalism.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the invisible currents of Share energy that permeated the air. She reached out to the edges of it, took hold of it, the molded it with her mind as she held a careful mental image. Her GRAFX units—Generated Armament Frame External-type, which was just a fancy way of saying "objects IGPUs use to break things"—appeared over her arms. Maxim Scarlet took the form of two heavy gauntlets that reached up just below her elbow. Projectors along the knuckles let loose concussive shockwaves on command. Range wasn't great on them, but when she connected with a punch and simultaneously fired off a blast, whatever she hit tended not to get back up again. At least not in one piece.

Even if her timing was off, small rocket engines on the rear of the gauntlets, near her elbow, accelerated her fists to a _lot_ faster than she was capable of normally, which was already really freaking fast since she was an IGPU.

All in all, they fit her perfectly. She wasn't afraid to get close and dirty if it meant she could slug it out with someone to see who dropped first. And it usually wasn't her.

Even as her GRAFX manifested, she didn't let go of her energy. She continued to form it, condensing it into familiar armor around her body, over her clothing. Almost... almost...

Boom.

To the uninitiated, her SHADR armor didn't seem to, well, armor much. What people like that didn't know was that the armor wasn't armor in the traditional sense, pieces of metal that made sure pointy things didn't go into fleshy bits. It was kind of like a distributor, spreading the raw Share energy she was gathering to herself to different functions. With her SHADR, she could use her energy to fly, or project tough defensive fields around her body... and more. She knew some neat tricks, but she kept those under wraps until a situation looked really terrible.

She stretched a bit—chasing Ruby had been a bit of a challenge, despite her being an IGPU and her sister being a regular ol' human and all—and funneled energy into her flight boosters, four blade-like wings that floated behind her in formation. Connected to her via her Share energy currents, when they flew, they took her with them. She crouched down, then leaped, releasing the boosters' energy, and suddenly she was zipping off into the sky.

Well, okay, maybe zipping was exaggerating. Lumbering. She could lumber along when she needed to. She turned and headed to the west of the island.

She bled off speed a bit when she saw figure hanging in the sky a few hundred yards ahead of her. As she closed in, the tall—taller than she was, believe it or not—athletic girl with fiery red hair turned to her and smiled. The other girl's armor, much more powerful than Kaveri's own low-maintenance SHADR armor, was bundled with the job description. It came from Condensed Overdrive Resonance—CORE—where a full-on GPU like Radeon materialized her Share energy into powerful defensive armor and augmented her GRAFX unit, the shield and morphing spear/sword Dictum Rouge.

"Good evening, Kaveri. How are you tonight?" Radeon asked in a slow, serene voice.

"Evening, boss," she answered. "I'm good. How about you?"

She felt a twinge of worry when she saw the GPU's brows furrow. "I'm... all right, I suppose. Something seemed... off this morning, so that's why I asked you and the others to be on alert tonight. I know you usually go to that restaurant with your sister today, so you have my apologies."

Honestly, if it was anyone else, she'd be a little annoyed at being dragged away from soup night because of something feeling "off". Radeon wasn't anyone else, though. The GPU was, essentially, a freaking demigod. And while, sure, Radeon didn't look any older than Kaveri, that was because GPUs stopped aging when they assumed the mantle of guardian. Radeon was a few centuries old for all she knew, so she'd trust the GPU's wisdom and give the other woman the benefit of the doubt when it came to bad vibes.

Still, what was bad enough that a GPU looked tense? Rising tensions with Vida or Entel? The continent of Gamindustri—a land with their own version of GPUs, the Console Patron Units—feeling like making a land grab? Huh. That'd be something, wouldn't it? Graphicard didn't really have much contact with the mainland—what with being a couple thousand miles away—but who knows? She'd heard the leader of Planeptune—one of the nations in Gamindustri—was kind of... weird.

"Anything I should be worrying about in particular, boss?" she asked.

Radeon shrugged. "I can't say, honestly. The Share currents have been... rippling, lately. I don't know what it means."

She didn't either. She, as an IGPU, really only used the energy to get buff and manifest her GRAFX and SHADR. True GPUs could tap into the streams of Share energy and do wizard stuff. "Eh, better safe than sorry, I guess."

"My thoughts exactly."

She and Radeon went into a patrol pattern over the northwestern coast of the island, near the wharves that dotted this part of the coast. Hrm. Maybe if nothing cropped up in an hour she could ask if she could meet up with Ruby before returning. She wasn't far from their favorite soup joint.

Soup night was important.

You know, thinking about that, maybe she could invite Radeon one of these nights. Not to be all up in Radeon's business, but as far as she knew the GPU didn't get to socialize much. Being a virtual goddess was probably a downer on the social life.

Man. She didn't have many friends herself, but she had Ruby, and some of the IGPUs she was close enough with to almost call friends, like Kabini. Radeon didn't seem to have anyone.

It was probably lonely at the top. Radeon, being Radeon, just didn't complain about it.

She rubbed her chin. Since they'd postponed it, maybe tomorrow could work. Yeah, it could. She'd asked Radeon later.

* * *

" _There_ ' _s a day when all hearts will be broken_ , _when the shadows_ nah nah nah naaaaah..." Ruby sang to herself as she strolled along the wharf. She'd forgotten the words to song. She'd need to find out if the the streaming places had it up for sale to load into her palmtop. It was really catchy.

But that was after she got home. She had to go to Beacon, first. Things would be super duper dire if she didn't.

And there it was was! Her and Kaveri's favorite place to eat. It served the _bestest_ best seafood chowder. Heck, the first time she and Kaveri had eaten their signature soup her sister had gone to the market the next day to see if she could copy it.

Spoiler: it'd been terrible. Kaveri was cool, but a good cook she was not.

She felt her face drop a little. Eh. It was a happy memory—well, kind of. When she said terrible soup, she meant _terrible soup—_ but not only did it remind her of Soup Night, it reminded her why she and Kaveri _had_ soup night. It had been the night she and her sister found out Mom and Dad had died.

It had been so... so stupid, too. A sudden squall had come up while their parents had been out fishing and capsized their boat. Just the sea being the sea. She'd been five, ten years ago. Ever since, on the same day in the week, she and Kaveri ate here. At first it was to take their minds off of what had happened, but it had become something for them to bond over.

The last time they'd missed the date had been... four years ago? Yeah four years ago, when a fire had broken out in the warehouses and Kaveri had helped out.

She pushed the door open and went inside.

"Hey, Ruby!" she heard Mr. Tucker, the owner, call to her.

"Hi!" she said, and waved.

"The usual?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Mr. Tucker turned to the kitchen and called out her order to the cook. She walked over to her usual spot, a small round table in the back of the soup joint.

"Just you tonight?" the owner asked her. Mr. Tucker had been running this place since they started coming here, so he knew all about her and Kaveri's weekly ritual.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Radeon asked Kaveri to help patrol tonight."

"Ah," said Mr. Tucker, looking regretful. "Too bad. Can't remember the last time she missed your dinner date."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she just shrugged.

Humph. It better not become a habit. That would just be blah. She propped her elbows up on the table and rested her head in her hands. It was sometimes just nice to, you know, take it all in. The place smelled delicious and the lightning wasn't too bright or too dark. Just right. Soothing.

Like pretty much any day at dinnertime, Beacon was crowded, but Mr. Tucker always made sure they got their food on time. Well, not they, she, since Kaveri was off zooming around the sky or something with Radeon.

She wrinkled her nose. Her sister had better make it tomorrow. Otherwise she might take some food coloring and—

She jerked a bit as bowl of the most delicious looking soup was set down in front of me. Wow, talk about distracted. She looked up at Mr. Tucker.

"One bowl of our house seafood chowder, just for you."

"Thanks!"

Mr. Tucker just smiled at her before he turned to go back to the counter. She smiled. He was such a nice man. Always took care of her and Kaveri, and she was _preeetty_ sure their soup serving were a little bigger than normal whenever they show up. Come to think of it, it was always Mr. Tucker who served them their soup, not one of the servers.

Oh boy, enough thinking, more slurping. She reached for the spoon and—

* * *

Kaveri stiffened. What was that noise? It had sounded like—

Her eyes widened. Some of the buildings on the wharf! They were... they were on fire. She squinted. No that wasn't right. It wasn't like someone left a pot on the stove for too long. One of the buildings had a wall shattered like... like something had exploded.

Something bright flashed past her, no more than ten feet away, leaving behind the scent of ozone and burning plastic. There was a sound like thunder and suddenly more buildings were burning.

A ball of lead thudded in her stomach. Ruby... Ruby was down in that area! Beacon was only a few structures away from the destruction. She needed to get there, _now_.

She fed Share energy to her boosters... but stopped as something wrapped around her arm.

She wheeled on whatever it was. Radeon. Okay, not happening. She liked Radeon, she really did, but no way in hell was she keeping her from Ruby, dammit. She tried to wrench her arm away, but it wouldn't bunch. Ungh. GPU had a grip like a freaking vice.

"Lemme go," she growled.

"No, Kaveri. I need you here."

She pretty much exploded. "The _hell_ you do!" she hissed. "I don't have time to frigging play sky patrol while my sister might be trapped in a burning building!"

"Kaveri," Radeon said softly, "w _hy_ do you think the buildings are burning?"

Click.

Blinking, she looked past the woman she'd been glaring at. In the sky, against the setting sun, she saw a couple dozen... _somethings_. They looked like women in SHADR armor, but they weren't wearing the colors of Emdi, Entel, _or_ Vida. Just black as ink. As she took it in, she saw that they didn't seem to have arms. Nope, they had freaking swords at the elbow.

Oh, yeah, and they all looked identical.

As she stared, one of the IGPUs—were they IGPUs?—made a sweeping motion with its blade arm. A crescent-shaped energy wave of blinding teal bloomed, and flew, crackling, into the ground.

Another explosion, and this time it was only two buildings over from Beacon.

Eyes wide, she looked back at the IGPUs. Another one of them raised an arm...

...And exploded into pieces that dissolved as they spun away. She flinched. What could've...

Frowning, she looked at her arm and noticed Radeon wasn't holding onto her anymore. She shifted her gaze and saw the Emdi GPU next to her, leveling what looked like a rifle with an angular barrel. A linear rifle? She hadn't known Dictum Rouge had that configuration.

She watched Radeon look up from the rifle's sights. "Kaveri, I've already contacted Kabini and Llano. They'll help with evacuating the people from the docks district. Until they get here we need to keep these things occupied." She saw the GPU turn back to look at the strange IGPUs, which had all turned to face her and Radeon. "If they're dealing with us, they can't all attack the city."

She grit her teeth. She hated this. God, she hated it. But it made sense. If she ditched and went to the ground, she'd save Ruby... at the expense of everyone else.

She knew her kid sister well enough to know Ruby would hate that.

"Okay," she said quietly. Her throat was really dry. "You have a game plan, boss?"

* * *

Ruby yelped as the ground shook and her soup crashed to the floor. Oh, man!

She stared at the tragedy on the floor, of dozens of shrimp, clams, scallops, mussels, and halibut nuggets that would forever be lost to the cruel, cruel world.

Drat. She looked up, trying to catch Mr. Tucker's eye. She'd brought enough money to get another bowl, thankfully. Mr. Tucker was nice and would probably try to get her another serving for free, but she couldn't do that. Well, yeah, free food was free food, but Beacon was such a big part of her life right now she just couldn't take a freebie, you know?

Hmm. Weird. The owner wasn't around the counter. Frowning, she looked around and... eh? It had gotten brighter in Beacon for some reason, and everyone was clustered around the window. She got up and walked over. She wasn't very vertically gifted so she had to, um, muscle her way past all the tall people. She was strong, though, so there was that. Geez, though what could have happened outside that people were all gawking at... at...

She gasped.

Why was the neighborhood on fire?

She quickly backed away from the window—Kaveri had always told her to stay far away from windows during danger, since they were both razor sharp shards just waiting to happen, plus a way for bad people to get inside—and sent a mental command to her palmtop. She stared at her hand, waiting for the call to connect to Kaveri. Huh? No service? The dockside district always had great reception!

The ground shook again, and people flinched back from the windows. That had been stronger than before, which could mean it could be getting closer, right? The fire outside seemed brighter too. She really should tell the people to get back, if they'd listen to her. If something hit the window it could—

She shrieked as the world flashed and shook, throwing her to the ground. Things went fuzzy for a few seconds.

Oh.

Ow.

She shook her head to clear some of the stars away, and looked around.

Beacon was wrecked. The entire side of the building where people had been looking was torn down, and people were... were on the ground. Some of them were slowly getting off the floor. Others were squirming around.

Others didn't move at all.

She was almost glad she hadn't eaten the soup. She would've just thrown it up along with everything else as she vomited.

* * *

" _Nyaagh_!" Kaveri grunted as she drove a fist into the clone IGPU's face and released a force blast. The helmet that covered the upper half of its face did jack all to stop her punch, and she literally knocked its head off.

Wait, what?

She kind of just stared for a moment, because instead of a gruesome blood spray, all she got was a cloud of glowing mist and broken armor. The IGPU dropped, but before it had fallen more then twenty feet it dissolved into motes of light.

Um... okay. That definitely wasn't kosher. IGPUs were basically just humans who manipulated Share energy. If they died—which was thankfully rare, since IGPUs were built tough—they left a human body behind. And they could _bleed_. They didn't dissolve into freaking sparkles when you socked them in the face.

She was jerked away from her thoughts when she heard something whistling towards he face. Her hand raised on autopilot, and she felt something smash into Maxim Scarlet, the impact cushioned by her Share energy. The enemy IGPU tried to pull away to ready another strike, but she wasn't having any of that. She had gauntlets, it had sword-arms. She wanted to keep this thing nice and close.

She threw her arm around the blade, trapping it between her forearm and her body. It probably seemed counter intuitive to press the sharp thingy close to your body, but she had her SHADR and GRAFX to work with. A blade with no leverage or speed wasn't going to breach it.

The other IGPU struggled, but no dice for it. She was apparently that much stronger than it was—which was _weird_. She was the strongest of the IGPUs in Emdi, and probably in Entel, bar the three freakishly powerful senior IGPUs. She wasn't _that_ much stronger than any of them that she could just pin their arm their indefinitely in a relatively weak hold.

With the other IGPU locked in close, she started pounding it in the head with her free hand. Angle was a bit awkward, so her power suffered. It took three punches instead of one to break its face. She tossed the dissolving body away, twisting in the air as she let power surge through her boosters.

She crashed into three of them, wrapping them up in her arms. She fed as much as energy as she could into her defensive shields and hoped for the best.

She felt impacts as she and her passengers barreled through the swarm of IGPUs, sending the ones they crashed into tumbling away. She could just make out the _whine_ - _crack_ - _whine_ - _crack_ of a rapidly cycling linear rifle as Radeon wasted the disoriented clones. She felt blades grinding and sparking against her Share energy field, but they didn't have enough time to line up for a good strike.

She emerged on the other side of the enemy IGPU cloud, and that's when it occurred to her that she'd just given a bear hug to three killer clones with swords for arms. Awkward.

Uh... probably a good idea to solve that. Hmm. When you didn't want something, what did you do with it? You tossed it. She spun and flung the IGPUs back the way she'd come, recovering to throw a one-two-three flurry at the tumbling IGPUs, ejecting Share energy out of Maxim Scarlet in focused concussive blasts. The second shot was off the mark, only landing a glancing blow, but the first and last hit squarely and blew them to bits.

Hmm. Four down in about twelve seconds. Not bad.

She snuck a glance to the side and saw...

Yeeeah.

Whereas she kind of did the whole bull in a china shop thing, and got away with it because she had the strength to make punching things in the face a viable solution, Radeon carefully dismantled the building and removed all the teapots... before nuking it to the ground. The GPU was easily as strong as Kaveri was, but far faster and more adept at using her weapons and strength to get things done.

Radeon had just gone through about a dozen of them in the time it had taken her to take on four.

Huh. A reality check was always nice.

Shaking her head, she looked back to the clones. Humph. They'd stopped swarming her and Radeon and had backed up a bit.

Still needed to resolve this. At least they weren't shooting at the island, but that could change at the drop of a hat. She and Radeon had to boot them out of the airspace, so Kabini and Llano could finish up with the evacuation. With the four of them—and maybe adding Trinity—they'd run down whatever leftovers there were and destroy—

She blinked as a... swirling lump of darkness appeared in the middle of the formation out of thin air. The vortex pulsed and flexed, turning in on itself in motions that made her skin crawl and stomach do flip-flops.

Then it opened—barf—and another clone IGPU floated out to join the others.

Um. Okay. Neat trick. That wasn't going to be enough to—

Then fifty more of the portal-swirls appeared deep within the clone swarm.

"Oh, hell..." she whispered.

* * *

The girl had just wanted a bowl of soup.

The girl known as Ruby staggered away from what had been the restaurant known as Beacon. No one stopped her. The man known as Tucker, himself injured, was too occupied with arranging a triage of sorts for the injured patrons. The walking wounded among them were doing their best to make their less fortunate neighbors comfortable.

As the girl wandered away in a daze, she looked to the sky as fire seemed to engulf it. A cloud of darkness rained down bolts of fire and death upon the city, even as it seethed towards two dancing points of light. The shadow sought to envelop and extinguish those flames, but their power burned it away to mist and smoke.

The girl knew one of those flames was her sister.

The cloud of dark IGPUs, tiring of their fruitless attempts to snuff out Radeon and Kaveri, changed targets. Half their number descended upon the island's port district. Panicked screams filled the air as the black IGPUs, with inhumanly ruthless efficiency, set their blades and their thunder upon the citizens. Luckily, they were not unopposed. The IGPUs Kabini and Llano, answering Radeon's call, threw themselves at the attackers, trying to save what lives they could.

The remainder of the eerie beings remained in the air, continuing their deadly dance with Radeon and Kaveri. They fell by the handful, but more came by the second out of the dark rifts. They had no chance of killing the GPU and IGPU, not with half their number engaged in their wholesale slaughter on the surface. They did not seek to; they remained there to bar Radeon and Kaveri's path so the ones on the ground could continue their grisly business.

There was a shouted command from the GPU, a nod from the IGPU, and Kaveri was rocketing towards the ground faster than she had ever gone before. The air howled with her passing, and the ground shuddered when she struck.

Nearby clones turned to face the new arrival, abandoning their massacre to stare down the Emdi IGPU. People cowering the rubble took the opportunity to flee, the motion catching the eyes of some of the silent IGPUs. They turned to run down the humans, but Kaveri reacted faster, bellowing her rage and defiance as she charged the clones.

The odds were a dozen to one, but Kaveri, being Kaveri, didn't care. In her mind it was simply a target-rich environment. She engaged the attackers by the simple expedient of charging into their teeth.

The golden-haired IGPU erected a powerful Share energy barrier around herself and waded into the mayhem, each strike deflecting a blow, shattering a limb, or outright killing a foe. She moved deftly, always putting an opponent between herself and another, and she moved _into_ blows, robbing them of precious momentum and allowing them to glance and spark off her body shield. Strikes that made it through, too, served their purpose, for every hit that slammed into her barrier imparted kinetic energy, which Kaveri's SHADR thirstily drank and digested, giving her more power to bolster her own Share energy.

Kaveri's style of combat had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer... and all the singleminded effectiveness of one, too.

The battle above the island, between Radeon and fully three dozen of the clones, seemed even more chaotic. _Seemed_. The GPU of Emdi weaved through her enemies in a deadly dance, each of her own strikes deadly, each of theirs parried or slashing only air. Dictum Rouge flowed between its forms seamlessly, lightning fast, and none of the IGPUs were safe no matter how far—or how close—they were.

Opening herself to the Share energy in a way only a GPU could, Radeon was able to do more than just draw incredible strength and blistering speed to herself. The currents of power derived from the people's faith in Emdi seemed to whisper subtle hints to her, warning her of blows she wouldn't have been able to sense otherwise. Strikes that seemed sure to land slid past Radeon with the barest of gaps, and no matter how skillful their defense, Dictum Rouge always found a vulnerability.

As the umpteenth IGPU fell away, broken, the swarm ceased their attack, both on the surface and in the air. The only sound was the crackling of fires in the wake of the attack, and the cries of the humans of Emdi island.

Radeon frowned as something blared in her mind through the Share currents, something she couldn't identify. She tensed, a split second before all the clone IGPUs dropped dead. Kaveri, Kabini, and Llano, down on the surface, were treated to the same spectacle as their erstwhile opponents collapsed to the ground.

All but one.

One last IGPU hung in the sky, peering at Radeon. It looked no different than its recently deceased brethren, at least not on the outside. Radeon winced as she felt her Share energy recoil, as if the remaining IGPU was twisting the very currents of Share energy with its very presence.

Without a word or a sign, it charged at Emdi's GPU.

* * *

Ruby peeked out from behind the rubble she'd been hiding behind after Kaveri had picked a fight with the other IGPUs. All the enemies her sister had been brawling with had just toppled over onto the ground. Pop. Just like that.

She saw Kaveri floating there a few inches off the ground, looking absolutely confused. Her first impulse was to bolt to Kaveri and give her the biggest little sister hug she could muster, but she didn't. Kaveri didn't talk about work much, but she did drill some things into her head, like making sure to assess a situation before she went and did something. That'd kind of gone out the window when she'd, you know, wandered away from Beacon, but she had her head a little straighter on her shoulders now. Just a little.

The enemy IGPUs weren't playing dead, since they started to break apart into light. Phew.

She leaped out from behind the wreckage with a cry of "Kaveri!" Her sister started, then turned to look at her.

And before she knew it she was wrapped up in an IGPU-level big sister hug.

"Ruby!" she heard Kaveri say. "Thank goodness you're all right!"

"Yeah, you too!" she blurted. "I was worried. There were, like, fifty of them!"

"More like twelve, kid," Kaveri said to her with a laugh. They separated, and her sister bent down to look her in the eyes. "Ruby, I'll take you to the guild building. Stay there until—"

And then suddenly Kaveri had to catch her when the ground quaked again. Not again!

"What was that?" she asked her sister.

No answer. Frowning, she looked at Kaveri, and found her sister looking, wide-eyed, at the sky.

Her eyes flew open, too. She could see a red blur and a black blur flashing across the sky, smacking against each other for a split second before breaking away. Every time they hit each other, a blast of wind howled down to the ground and almost knocked her over.

"That's..." she heard her sister say in horror, "that's Radeon and one of the other IGPUs."

Another crash... but this time the red streak didn't bounce back. It... it rocketed into the ground somewhere in the distance, causing the ground to shake again.

"No..." she heard her sister whisper.

The creepy IGPU floated in the air above them, still.

Then it looked down. Right at them.

She blinked, and suddenly the enemy IGPU had slammed into the ground a few yards from her and Kaveri.

She pulled herself closer to Kaveri.

Her sister pushed her away. "Ruby, get behind—"

And suddenly she flew as something black slammed into Kaveri. Things went blurry for a few seconds. Ow. She shook her head and blinked rapidly. Seemed to help.

Kind of wished it didn't, because standing over her was the black IGPU. It looked at her.

Right. At. Her.

Her chest got all tight, her mouth went dry, and her legs and arms started shivering. It was... it was—

She flinched as something that looked like the heat distortion that rose from the pavement on a hot summer day hit the IGPU in the side of the head. Well, almost. The force blast stopped a few hairs from the IGPU's armor. A shield.

"Hey, ugly!" she heard her sister call from somewhere to the right. She turned to look, and... oh no. Kaveri was bleeding from an ugly looking gash on her forehead, and she was holding her left arm funny.

The IGPU turned to look at Kaveri.

"Yeah, you," she heard her sister snarl. "Me and you ain't done yet. Now get over here and let's punch!"

The clone didn't do anything. It just turned away from Kaveri to stare at her again.

Then it raised an arm.

" _NO_!" she heard Kaveri roar.

And then it happened, almost in slow motion. Kaveri charged in, arm cocked back to punch. The black IGPU turned. Her sister got close, shot her fist forward. The clone twisted, raised one of its swords.

And sliced Kaveri's right arm off just above the elbow.

It felt like her heart stopped as Kaveri dug a furrow into the ground before she finally stopped, thirty feet away, when she hit a building.

" _KAVERI_!" she screamed.

* * *

A young woman, injured and bleeding, lay motionless on the ground. A sister, weeping and frightened, rushed to hold her. A dark entity, armored and silent, loomed over them both.

The girl threw herself in front of her sister, despite knowing her merely human flesh would do nothing to impede the blade. The woman feebly tried to push her sibling away, despite knowing her sister could not run fast enough to escape.

The dark IGPU drew back an arm—

—And was blasted a hundred yards away as Radeon slammed into it with her shield. The GPU spared the sisters a brief glance before pursuing her opponent.

A GPU was deeply connected to her nation's Share energy, and could draw from it unbelievable power. Yet, this link was simultaneously an incredible boon and a glaring vulnerability. So intertwined were they with the currents of Share energy, that a flux in that power, or being _separated_ from it entirely, would leave them terribly disoriented and impotent. When the enemy IGPU had taken in the power of its deceased comrades, it had begun to emit a disruptive field of energy that had interfered with Radeon's ability to draw upon her Share power. Rapidly weakening, mind spinning, it was only her sheer ability and experience that had kept the blow that struck her from being fatal, and only grievous.

Her foe, in something that might be called hubris, hadn't bothered to finish her. Leaving to toy with Kaveri and Ruby, it had taken its disruption web with it, allowing Radeon to access the power she had been barred from a few heartbeats previously. Hastily—and imperfectly—mending her wound, she had then drawn as much Share energy as she could into herself, drinking it in like a sponge. She had known that she would be extremely limited when she engaged again, so she would have to be decisive and swift.

The Share currents had spoken to her then, far more clearly than ever before. What she had gleaned had frightened her, but as she closed in on her foe, she cast that fear aside. There would be time for it later.

Perhaps.

The dark IGPU dug itself out from under the asphalt Radeon had put it under. Without a word it rose into the air to meet the Emdi GPUs's dive.

The air itself shivered from the impact.

Radeon fought with all the conviction of a woman protecting her home and the people she loved, the fury of her power tempered by centuries of experience and honed by immense skill. The dark IGPU—if one could even call it an IGPU—raged with the swirling furnace of energy contained within itself, guided by inhuman ruthlessness and mechanical precision.

In a few heartbeats the two combatants experienced a small lifetime of suffering and motion, their battle taking them high into the sky.

And as abruptly as it had started, the struggle ended. One of the IGPU's arms spun away, severed at the shoulder.

The other was buried deep within Radeon's gut. The stricken GPU gasped, coughing up all too human blood over the thing that had killed her. The IGPU studied its fallen foe, waiting for the goddess to bleed her life away upon its blade.

To the GPU, the currents had finally gone silent. Yet, that meant nothing, for she already knew how this was going to end.

"Why?" she choked out.

"You GPUs are relics of an obsolete era. The coming age does not require you." The sound issuing from it was horrible, a vaguely feminine voice mutilated by static and machine distortion. "ARM is the future. ARM is inevitable."

Radeon thought on those words as the world began to grow hazy.

"Do you believe in destiny?" she whispered.

The IGPU said nothing, cocking its head in a shockingly human gesture of curiosity.

"We have no interest in beliefs," the ARM avatar hissed. "We simply require that you die."

The dying GPU chuckled humorlessly. "And die I shall." Radeon closed her eyes.

Then Radeon shot out a hand and locked it onto the dark IGPU's head... and opened herself completely to the Share Energy.

The ARM creature's disruption field could sever a GPU's connection to the Share currents, much like a man would sever a power cable. Had Radeon attempted to draw energy to herself to heal and fight, the ARM avatar would have prevented it.

But instead of becoming a power receptacle, Radeon became something more akin to a lightning rod. The power flooded in and began to fill her. The GPU's eyes, with their odd pupils reminiscent of the universal power symbol, glowed with blinding intensity.

And then the power began to burn.

The being known as Radeon had held the mantle of Emdi's GPU for over two hundred years, but she had not been born that way. In another life, she had been a completely normal, purely human, girl. When the power of the GPU had found her, it had transformed her into something that was no longer quite human.

And yet, some of that humanity remained, and that aspect of her could not hope to contain such raw energy. Like how a filament glowed— _burned—_ inside an incandescent lightbulb as electricity flowed through it, the Share energy that coursed through Radeon's body caused her to appear less a young woman and more an infant star that lit the sky above Emdi for miles around.

As her body began to lose form and her consciousness slipped away, Radeon whispered, so quietly it was only she who could hear.

"I'm sorry, Kaveri. Forgive me, Ruby."

And then the GPU of Emdi, Radeon, died, taking with her the ARM avatar in the pyre of her passing.


	4. Chapter 2

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

" _Forgive me_ , _Ruby_..."

Ruby's eyes shot open. Wha...? Where...?

Rubbing her eyes—they were all gummy, yuck—she sat up... and immediately regretted it. Urgh. She laid back down, and things got a whole lot less dizzy. That hadn't been fun.

She took a look around. Whoa. She was in her room, on her bed.

And there was someone sitting in the chair next to said bed. Female, tallish, slimish, youngish, with amber eyes, black hair, and an expression like someone had just told a terrible joke. Oh, and a bow that looked almost like kitty ears.

Kabini, another Emdi IGPU.

"Um... morning?" she said weakly.

"It's about two, so it's more like afternoon," the IGPU said back to her. The woman paused for a few seconds. "You've been out for almost two days."

Talk about sleeping in. Kaveri would have a cow if—

Her blood went cold. Kaveri!

She jumped out of bed, not even caring that the world was going spinny. She had to see if Kaveri was all right. Her... her arm had...

And then she wasn't going anywhere because Kavaeri had wrapped her up in a bearhug and that was the end of that. It was like trying to get away from a a steel vice.

"Slow down," Kabini said to her. "Your sister's alive and in no danger."

Which wasn't the same thing as saying Kaveri was fine.

"What happened?" she asked the IGPU.

She saw Kabini frown. "How far back do you remember?"

She frowned. "I remember the sky lightning up, but after that, nothing."

Kabini's frown deepened. That couldn't be good. "Your sister can tell you about it, then. We filled her in." The IGPU shook her head. "In any case, Trinity found you and your sister. She managed to get your sister stable before she bled out."

Trinity, huh. She knew the name—yet another IGPU—but not the face. She'd have to thank her sometime later. But first...

"I won't run," she said to Kabini. "But, please, I really want to see my sister."

"Fine, but be _careful_ , then," Kabini said as she let her go. "I told Kaveri I wouldn't let you hurt yourself."

Easier said than done. Well. At least the floor wasn't at an angle anymore. That was a plus, right?

She took a few steps towards her bedroom door and didn't plant her face into the floor. So far so good.

"You stumble once, and I'm putting you straight back into bed," Kabini warned.

Well, great. No pressure or anything. At least it was warm in the house, so she wasn't shivering in her pajamas. That would've probably made Kabini toss her back into bed.

She managed to get out the door and across the hallway to Trinity's bedroom. Not a single trip or stumble either. She gently knocked on the door.

"Come in," she heard her sister say. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Kaveri was sitting up in bed, propped up with some pillows. Her sister was staring out the window, but Kaveri slowly turned to look her way.

Kaveri looked okay, except for a bandage wrapped around her forehead. Her sister looked a little down, sure, but that was because...

She caught a glimpse of Kaveri's right arm, cut off at the elbow and bandaged up.

Oh, Kaveri...

Her eyes stung a little and got blurry, but she didn't even care as she rushed to her sister—no, not a single stumble—and hugged her, hard.

"Hey, kid," Kaveri said softly. "How're you?"

* * *

She looked up at Kaveri, wiping her eyes a little. "Me? I'm fine. What about you, though? Your... your _arm_."

Kaveri felt her smile—strained as it was—falter a bit. She hid it quickly, though. She was the responsible adult here.

To those not in the know, she looked like any other seventeen-year-old to her fifteen-year-old sister. To those who _did_ know, she was actually twenty-three. Yeah, bit of an age gap between them.

Six years ago was when she'd manifested as an IGPU, and also when she'd basically stopped aging. Sure, she wasn't a GPU and wasn't truly immortal, but the aging process was super slowed down. She'd probably look twenty-five when she hit fifty.

Actually, what _was_ the life expectancy of a IGPU? She had no clue. The oldest one she knew of was one of the senior IGPUs over in Entel, who was on the wrong side of one hundred but looked early thirties. Kabini didn't look any older than Kaveri, but was late twenties or early thirties. She didn't talk with Llano much, and as for Trinity... well, the less contact she had with that little sociopathic troll, the better.

She blinked. The hell was her mind wandering off to? Hello, weird mishmash of big sister and mother figure here. She needed to be focusing on helping Ruby get through this, not wondering how many candles she needed to put on Kabini's cake.

"Hey, kid, just a flesh wound," she said, with about triple the cheeriness than she actually felt. "Give me a week or two. I'll just... regenerate. Yeah."

She saw her sister frown. "Really? I thought..." Ruby trailed off and didn't complete the thought.

Ruby thought that regenerating from terrible battle damage was only something a GPU could do.

And her little sister was right. There was a _reason_ she didn't know the natural life expectancy of an IGPU.

This wasn't a safe job. It didn't happen often, but sometimes a particularly powerful monster showed up and and took out an IGPU. Hell, a couple of a decades back, IGPUs had been killing each other in the wars.

And just a few days a GPU had died.

Wow. Morbidville, population: Kaveri.

She sighed to herself, an arm—well, her _only_ arm—wrapped around Ruby. It was just an arm. It sucked that she was right-handed and that's what got chopped off, but she'd deal. She'd bounce back. That was kind of her thing. Knock her down, she just got back up, more pissed and ready to push someone's face in.

Except... this time it hadn't been enough. She got knocked down and she'd stayed there. If Radeon had shown up—and died—Ruby might've... might've...

"Yow, Kaveri!" her sister yelped. "Squeezing kind of hard over here!"

She started. Geez. She loosened up on her one-armed bear hug.

"My bad," she said with a laugh. "Overcompensating. Gotta squeeze twice as hard now."

Ruby didn't say anything. Not even a giggle. Man, tough crowd.

"Kaveri, are you sure you're okay?" her sister asked softly.

"Yeah, Ruby, I'm fine, I'm fine."

Ugh. Was that for Ruby's benefit, or hers? Yeah, she knew wasn't the biggest fish in the pond, but what the enemy IGPU had done to her had been something else. It'd shaken her. It wasn't good enough to just give as good as she got. Sometimes things just gave better than she did, and suddenly she was an arm lighter. That was probably the scariest thing. It was a wake up call, saying ring, ring, Kaveri, you're far from as indestructible as you think you are. You're wrong about yourself. Grow up. There be sharks in these waters, and if you keep up this reckless crap, it wouldn't be just an arm that goes missing next time.

It might be her life.

Or Ruby's.

She squeezed her sister to her harder. Ruby needed some big sister proximity with all that had happened.

And Ruby didn't need to see her big sister crying.

* * *

Nepgear looked at the pile of paperwork and almost started crying. Neptune has promised that she'd do at least half of it before noon. It didn't look like it'd been touched. At all. All two hundred thirty-seven pages of it.

Okay, happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. If she upped the voltage to the actuators and added a few more capacitors, the piezoelectric musculature should be able to lift the frame. Problem was, to do that she'd have to increase the powerplant, which would increase overall weight, which meant she'd have to redo the skeleton, or maybe scale back the chest cannon. But if she did that, the torso would have—

Something yanked on her sleeve. "Nep Junior!"

" _Gyah_!" she yelped. " _Gah_! Neptune! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"But if you weren't daydreaming, you'd have heard me coming, mecha-head," said her sister with a giant grin across her face.

"I... I... I wasn't daydreaming! I was just... looking at the paperwork I'd have to do!"

"Nep Junior, you can't lie to me. I mean, the evidence is only a paragraph up."

She blinked. "What?"

Her sister sighed. "Never mind. Come on, you can suffer over the paperwork later."

She whimpered at the reminder.

"We, dear bestest sister, are having guests. And I can't make it look like I'm making you do all of my paperwork, after all!"

Um... but Neptune kind of was...

"Come on, let's go."

And then she was dragged away.

* * *

"Um, who are we expecting today?" Nepgear whispered to Histoire.

"Plutia and Peashy are coming over from their dimension," the little Oracle answered. "My counterpart contacted me a few days ago and said they had something urgent to discuss. The other CPUs will be joining us via teleconference."

Her stomach did a flip-flop. One, because Plutia coming over on actual business—as opposed to just playing and taking a nap and eating pudding—was so rare that something terrible must be happening. Second, she strongly suspected Peashy was going to give her a righteous headbutt the moment she appeared and her tummy was psychosomatically reacting.

Owie...

"Ah, here they come," she heard Histoire say.

She squinted and looked up into the sky. She caught a a faint glimmer. Ah, must be them.

The three of them were on the large balcony on the upper level of the basilicom, and some holoscreens were set up nearby. Must be how Lastation, Leabox, and Lowee would be getting in touch.

She hoped the technicians had wired them right. The holoscreens were really, really picky about configuration, and if the port forwarding wasn't just right you could get some really funky feedback loops that could put stress on the—

Nudge to her ribs. Gah.

"Nep Junior, come on. Enough techy mind wandering," her sister said to her.

"Sorry." she said with a sigh. She honestly did need to stop doing that.

The little speck in the sky drew larger and larger, until they resolved themselves into two CPUs, one tall and slender, with flowing purple hair, the other shorter, more muscular, and blonde.

Iris Heart and Yellow Heart—or Plutia and Peashy, depending on how you wanted to look at it—touched down on the balcony. She tensed up, knowing that Peashy was going to go back to her human form and pummel her.

Any second now.

Aaaany second now.

Um, what?

Plutia and Peashy just stood there in their goddess aspects. Well, this was unusual. Maintaining HDD was pretty straining, and unless they needed to, CPUs stayed in human form. Which begged the question, _why_ weren't the two of them switching back?

"Hey, Neptuna! Hey, Nepgear," Peashy yelled, despite being only ten feet from them. Plutia just inclined her head to her and Neptune, smiling faintly.

"So, um, Sadie, mind giving Plutie back for a minute?" she heard her sister say from beside her. "I mean, I love you and all, but, uh..."

"Oh, don't lie Neppy," Iris Heart said with a husky laugh. "I know this form terrifies you." She saw Plutia's ever-so-slight smile fade. Hmm? "Normally I'd be happy to go back to my human form and just lounge about with dolls and pudding, but not right now. I want my mind to be focused and a little less... cluttered, for what I have to say. So I'm staying in my goddess aspect until then."

Wow. If she had thought this was unusual before, it was just plain weird now. And maybe a little scary.

"Is it really that serious?" she heard her sister say, without any trace of the usual goofy... Neptune-ness her sister had about her. It was almost like Neptune's Purple Heart aspect was coming to the surface for a second.

"As a safe word."

She blinked. Wait, what?

She heard her sister sigh. "And here I was hoping we could do the dramatic build-up for the next plot development without any hitches, but _no_ , you just _had_ to make it weird."

Her sister hadn't even finished talking when there was a flash of light, and suddenly Purple Heart was standing next to her.

Okay. Should she go into HDD as well? Hmm. Her personality didn't really change much when she transformed, so going into her goddess form wouldn't really do much more than impress the readers. Probably best to save her energy for when she had to tackle that— _sigh_ —giant pile of paperwork.

"Histoire, if you could please contact the others," her sister said, in the powerful contralto she had when in HDD.

It was kind of cool. She loved Neptune to bits, because she was an great big sister, but she really looked up to the calm, collected awesomeness that was Purple Heart.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Histoire make a gesture to the holoscreens. They booted up, displaying a connection icon, before the faces of the other nations' CPUs showed up. There was Noire and Uni from Lastation, Vert from Leanbox, and Blanc, Rom, and Ram from Lowee. And, hold on, she saw a screen with her friend IF on it. On the wall behind Iffy she could see the guild symbol.

The others looked surprised that Neptune was in her HDD form, but no one said anything. She'd half expected Noire, at least, to take a poke at her sister. Because Noire.

Iris Heart looked at the screens and nodded. "Good afternoon, everyone. I'm stopping by from my dimension because I have some distressing news." Plutia paused for a second. "Three days ago the Leanbox of my dimension came under heavy attack from unknown forces. Vert was severely injured, and if Yellow Heart hadn't been along the seaways on patrol it's possible she would have been hurt far worse."

She saw Peashy nod vigorously

Vert—this dimension's Vert, to be precise, leaned forward on her desk. "How hurt, if I can ask?"

"Well, as far as I can tell, she hasn't logged into Four Goddesses Online since then."

Her eyes widened. So did Vert's. She'd spent a few years—lots of years, to be honest—with the Vert of Plutia's dimension, and the Leanbox CPU was just as as game-crazy as this dimension's. The other Vert had to be in, like, traction to not be clicking away at the computer.

Traction. Oh, goodness.

"What kind of enemies were they?" she heard Blanc ask.

"Unknown," Plutia answered. "They left no bodies behind when killed. However, between the accounts of Peashy and Vert, Histoire—my Histoire—was able to come up with a composite."

As she said that, Iris Heart unhooked a small device from her waist. Oh, she recognized that. It was one of the new models of holoprojectors that had just hit the market a few months ago. It was a joint project between both Planeptunes, and it was advertised to be at least fifty percent better than the previous model. Much better battery life, stronger processor for multitasking, wireless streaming, improved holographic fidelity, everything. She had to get one of those when she had _what the goodness_?

The 3D image that popped up looked like... like a girl or young woman, with pale skin. Medium build and height—about her size, come to think of it—if the hologram was at 1:1 scaling. A black helmet covered the upper half of the woman's face, and the rest of the body was naked except for armored plates here and there. Even stranger, the woman didn't have hands. Instead, from the elbow down, she saw swords.

It looked like...

"That looks like a CPU," Noire said, frowning.

"It's not, though," Peashy piped in. "Well not that I know about, anyway. They exploded when I punched 'em, and not even Nepgear blows up when I punch her." She groaned when she heard that. "Also their felt energy... really icky."

"Icky?" This from Vert.

"Yeah," Yellow Heart continued. "It's like... if normal Share energy is one of Neptuna's yummy puddings, then that energy felt like the pudding I left in my pocket for two weeks." Peashy pursed her lips. " _Really_ made my tummy feel weird."

Uh? How on earth did you leave a pudding in your pocket and forget about it for two weeks?

Hold a moment.

"Um, Peashy," she said. Okay, time to carefully _not_ notice how all the CPUs were suddenly looking at her. Scary. "You said 'they'. How many of those thing were there?"

Peashy frowned as she thought about that for a few seconds. "Dunno. Lots. Me and Bert weren't having too much trouble with them, but then they all kind of died and made one super strong whatever-it-is."

"They combined?" asked Noire. "Physically?"

"Not really. They just kind of gave all their energy to one of 'em. It was really strong when they did, too. Me and Bert were spaced far apart when they zonked out, so it took me a few seconds to get to her. By the time I got there, it had already smacked Bert into the ground and cut her up pretty bad. The two of us together were able to blow it up, though."

Her eyes widened at that. The Green Heart of that dimension was very powerful and skilled with a spear. If it took only a few seconds for it to hurt Vert that badly, it was an enemy you had to take _very_ seriously. Plus, that icky energy thing was puzzling. Peashy had compared it to Share energy, but only CPUs had access to Share energy. And CPUs didn't just die to give their energy to another CPU.

"So with that knowledge," Plutia said, "I asked my Histoire to make a few calls." Iris Heart nodded to Histoire.

"And I made a few calls of my own when I had gotten the information," the Oracle said. She noticed Purple Heart looking at Histoire, eyebrow cocked. "Oh, don't give me that look, Neptune. For one, there was no reason to think it was of any significance in this dimension. Two, you wouldn't have done anything with the information, anyway."

Her sister chuckled. "I'd argue with you, but we all know it's true."

She heard a few laughs from the holoscreens.

"Guess that's my cue, then," IF said from her guild screen. "I went through our channels to see if anything had happened around our dimension. Almost nada."

"Almost?" she heard Blanc say.

"Almost," IF repeated. "Some of the guild detachments along the coastlines sent in reports of encountering new monsters that looked almost like CPUs. They weren't tough, and the senior teams were able to bag 'em without too much of a fuss. Following standard guild procedure, they documented this new monster type as best they could and sent it to the database." Iffy tapped something offscreen, and suddenly IF's face was replaced with an image of one of the units Peashy had fought.

"And you didn't think to mention it?" Noire snapped.

The screen flipped back to Iffy. "Whoa there," IF said, hands up in a placating gesture. "Like I said, standard guild procedure. New monster types pop up every now and then and get documented. Unless there's a huge outbreak it's just another one for the record books. Heck, I wouldn't even have read up on them if Histoire hadn't gotten in touch with me and convinced me to dig around."

Things were getting weirder and weirder. A completely new monster type that looked eerily similar to a CPU had showed up simultaneously in both dimensions. Plus they were strong enough, at least in groups, to hurt a full CPU like Green Heart.

"With that said, we've only had sightings of individual monsters along the eastern coasts of Gamindustri," continued IF. "I spread the word among some of my friends, and yesterday I got a message from a guy who knows a guy with a boat. Something similar to what happened in Iris Heart's Leanbox happened in the eastern continental area."

Huh? Eastern continental area? She didn't know about that. She thought for a moment. Well. Hold on. She remembered bits and pieces out of a history book Histoire had made her read. Graf-something, right?

"Graphicard?" Blanc said. Oh, that was it. Graphicard.

"Yup. The guy in question was anchored a few miles off the coast of one of the islands. Emdi, I think it's called." IF looked offscreen and looked to be reading something. "Yeah, Emdi. The way he tells it, there was a serious scuffle there about two days ago. And when I mean serious, I'm talking about an explosion up in the sky that was almost strong enough to capsize the boat, even from that distance. Flattened a lot of the coastline architecture." IF sat a little straighter in her chair. "If we want to know what's up with these new monsters, I bet a month's pay we'll learn more in Graphicard."

Silence.

Everyone looked deep in though, including Neptune and Plutia, who she assumed hadn't heard of the information IF had just given. The question was, what now? She didn't know anything, really about the lands to the far east. Probably the guild would send IF and a small detachment out to investigate. Was that safe, though? Individually, those monsters didn't seem too tough, but what if there was a lot of them? What if they combined? Iffy knew her stuff, but something that could really hurt a CPU could be bad news if the guild people ran into it.

They'd need someone... fast. Strong enough to fight so they could retreat if they had to. Sounded exactly like a CPU like her big sis or the others. But that wouldn't work, though. The nations were still trying to pick up the pieces from the Tari incident, and if a CPU was over in Graphicard, that meant they weren't in their own nations. If those monsters could challenge a CPU, she hated to think what they could do to normal military people.

Or civilians.

"I can go," she blurted.

Oh, goodness. She'd really said that, hadn't she?

Suddenly everyone was looking at her again. Eek.

Her sister was looking too, but not surprised. She swore she was a smile on Neptune's face. "Say again, Nep Junior?"

"I mean, it makes sense, right?" she explained. "The CPUs have to stay around here, right, to keep things going smoothly and just in case a mass attack happens here? It's just me going, so it's not too much of a big deal."

Ouch. She'd just insulted herself, hadn't she? She was about to give more reasons why she wouldn't be missed— _sigh_ —when she saw Uni shoot up in her chair.

"I'm going, too!"

Noire looked like someone had just hit her in the face with pillow. "No, Uni, you're not."

"You heard when Peashy said. It's a two CPU job if they do their power combining thing, even if, you know, I'm not as strong as you are. Plus, Nepgear could use someone to cover her back."

She saw the Lastation CPU open her mouth to protest, but Iris Heart spoke first.

"For what it's worth, Noire, I think her reasoning's very sound. In fact..." Plutia turned to look at Yellow Heart for a second. "I think Peashy should come along too, since she knows how these things fight."

"Ooh, field trip!" Peashy said.

Noire just stared for a few seconds before leaning back in hear chair, massaging her forehead. "Fine."

Uni pumped a fist in to the air. Noire didn't see it. Or maybe just ignored it. It was Noire, after all.

"Is that going to be all right, though, Plutie?" she heard her sister ask. "With Vert injured and P-Ko gone, won't you be spread too thin?"

"I don't think so," Iris Heart said after a moment. "Our nations are already on high alert with our military mobilized. I also spoke with my Blanc yesterday. Copypaste was fitted with a new war chassis, so he can keep things secure around Lowee, which helps takes the strain off of us. We can mobilize to Leanbox if need be, until Vert gets better."

She saw Neptune nod.

Then it hit her. She'd really volunteered for something. Completely on her own. She was finally learning to assert herself! Be a real hero! Maybe be true protagonist material!

Neptune turned to her. "You think you can be ready go by this time tomorrow? You should reach the islands at night, and I think an inconspicuous entrance would be best."

"Sure!" she said, excited. Big sis was noticing her! "It's plenty of time."

"Very well. We still have that paperwork to do, after all."

Okay, maybe she didn't want big sis to notice her after all.

* * *

Kaveri leaned back on her pillows and rubbed the back of her head.

"That bad, huh?" she asked Kabini.

"Yeah," the other IGPU said.

It was just the two of them in their room for right now. Ruby had knocked out a few minutes ago, after she'd given a recap of what had happened. Kabini had carried her sister back to bed. Heh. You'd think two days of constant sleeping would be enough for Ruby, but obviously not.

She'd have carried Ruby back herself, but, you know, one arm and all...

Yeah... better not go there. With a sigh she looked back at her friend.

She and Kabini had discussing the events of the past few days. The attack had ended when Radeon had waxed the composite IGPU, but the explosion had also devastated the western coastal town. Hundreds of casualties, and the death toll was already several dozen.

Even worse, the Entel and Vida weren't answering their phones. You think after a head of state—which Radeon was, among other things—got taken out, the other nations would want to know what was up. But when the Emdi government and military had tried to get in contact with their counterparts, nada. Borderline shady, to be honest. One things were settled a little Kabini or maybe Llano would try to make contact with Entel, which was friendlier to Emdi than Vida was.

"Who's running the show then?" she asked. Traditionally in Emdi, the GPU was considered the executive unit in the government, and helped manage day-to-day affairs when she didn't have to take out particularly dangerous creatures. She had no idea what was going to happen now while they waited for the next GPU to emerge.

"Llano's the most senior of the IGPUs, so she'll be the leader in the interim," Kabini answered. "Trinity should he helping, too, though I honestly don't expect anything, not from her." Ah-hah, Kabini wasn't too hot on Trinity either. Score. "As for me, I'll need to coordinate with the relief forces. There's still people not accounted for on the coast, alive or dead." Kabini shook her head. "It's hard to get power equipment through the rubble, so my strength and SHADR sensors will be useful with the search parties."

Search parties. Hmm.

"Speaking of searches," she said to the other IGPU, "we'll need to be on the lookout for whoever takes up the GPU mantle. The guilds should be given a heads up."

"That's right," Kabini said, frowning. "That said, _I_ ' _ll_ be the one who does it, not _we._ You need your rest, Kaveri."

She frowned. No, not happening. She wasn't getting the kid gloves, thank you very much. "I lost an arm, not my vocal cords. I can work a palmtop. Heck, I bet could still assist the search parties. I'm still plenty strong. I can still heave stuff with one arm."

"Kaveri, _no_ ," Kabini said to her. Okay, this was starting to annoy her. "Get your rest. We heal faster than normal humans, a lot faster, even, but you lost an _arm_ , and a lot of blood. You need to heal and rest. It's not going to help anyone if I have to fly you to a hospital because you collapse."

She leaned forward, teeth clenched. "You know what?" she snapped. "You can just come out and say it. 'Kaveri, you got your ass beat, so stay here in the safe little house while the rest of us do the important work.' "

"That's not what I said," Kabini said quietly. "And you're overreacting, Kaveri. You're not invincible, none of us are."

Yeah, not invincible. And that had cost Radeon her life, and almost her own and Ruby's. She kind of deflated back into her pillows.

"Just stay here, stay with Ruby. She needs you. And I think you need her."

She looked away. Just then, for the briefest of seconds, she hated Kabini's guts for playing the little sister card on her. Dammit. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, opened them. Kabini was on the short list of people she could call friend. She didn't want to end their conversation like this.

"Fine, fine," she relented. "I'm going to need to learn how to write left-handed, anyway. No time like the present."

The other IGPU smiled slightly. "Hope it improves. Your penmanship's always been terrible."

She snorted.


	5. Chapter 3

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

"We're at the border in sixty," Nepgear heard Neptune say. "It'll be all on you three now."

The five of them—herself, Neptune, Noire, Uni, and Peashy—were about twenty miles past the eastern coast of Gamindustri. Early in the morning she and Neptune had flown out to Lastation to meet up with Noire and Uni before they started their mission.

Ooh, mission. That had a nice ring to it.

Purple Heart and Black Heart were escorting the three of them out to the edge of Lastation's maritime territory, and then it'd just be her, Uni and Peashy. For the mission.

 _Mission_. Shiny.

"You take care, Nep Junior," her big sister say to her.

"I will," she replied.

"That goes double for you, Uni," she heard Noire say from a little behind her and Neptune. "I'm not there to watch out for you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Noire." Uni huffed. "I'll be fine, really. I have to learn to take care of myself, anyway."

"See that you do," Noire sniffed.

"Yeah, don't worry, Noire!" she heard Peashy chime in. "I'm there to protect 'em."

"Somehow, that fills me with less confidence than it should," Black Heart said in a deadpan. When she sneaked a glance, though, she saw Noire smiling.

"Don't think that it doesn't apply to you either, P-Ko, she heard her sister say to Peashy. "I'd really rather not have an angry Plutie visit the basilicom and, um... _do_ things because I'd let you get hurt."

"Ah, don't worry that, Neptuna! The damage is almost never permanent, anyway!"

"That's... not something I wanted to hear."

She bit back a laugh. And then a whimper. She remembered what Iris Heart could do to a person.

"Looks like that's it for us," she heard Noire say. "You three come back safe, you hear me?"

"Of course!" she called back. "Take care of Gamindustri for us, okay?"

"I'll do that, Nep Junior," she heard her sister say with a chuckle. "Goodbye."

And with that Purple Heart and Black heart peeled off and headed back to shore.

Now it was just three of them. On a mission. Woohoo.

They continued flying east, towards Graphicard. It was starting to get late, so at least the sun was at their backs and not in their faces. That would have made the flight really unpleasant. As it was, thought it was nice. There was something soothing just watching the water pass by beneath her.

She suddenly felt eyes on her. Eh? Was she being paranoid because—

"Gah!" she cried. Uni had edged in a close, little more than a yard away and was looking her up and down. What the goodness?

"That's a new Processor set, isn't it?" Black Sister asked her. "I thought it was your old one at first, since they're both white, but it's not."

Oh, was that it? "Yes, yes it is," she replied. "This is the Lilac Mark III."

"Ah," Uni said. "I kind of missed the old look. We matched."

That was true. The Mark II had been black, so it did kind of mesh well with Black Sister. It had also matched Neptune's Processor, which was a plus.

"It's because of the new materials I used when I modded the Mark II," she explained. "The carbon nanoweave I used to replace the titanium threading was white, so it shifted the color.."

"Oh. Why didn't you use the Mark I version, though?" Uni asked. "The Mark II doesn't, you know, seem like something you'd wear."

Huh? The Mark II had a much better Share energy capacity over the Mark I, plus better cooling and infrastructure for expansions. Surely Uni would know that.

"I wanted to improve the output, so it took the Mark II as a base and started redesigning," she explained. She knew she was going to geek out, but she couldn't stop. "The carbon nanoweave I used made the whole thing stronger _and_ reduced the weight by about fifteen percent." Yup, definitely geeking out, but Uni could appreciate this, right? She was all into guns and and weapons, and those were hardware, right? "I reconfigured the shield projectors and capacitors, which gave more room to integrate a few more piezoelectric actuators along the arm and leg pieces. Gives me more strength." Ugh the geek train had started, and she couldn't stop it! "I also added a some Share energy capacitors and electrodes along my gloves, so I can more efficiently supply power to my beam rifle. I think I increased power output by fifty percent. I haven't tested everything, though."

And that was that. Oh, she forgot to mention the integrated communications suite she had... had...

Um. Uni and Peashy were staring at her like she'd grown an extra head.

Black Sister scratched her head. "You know, do I sound that nutty when I start going on about guns?"

She tried to remember what Uni sounded like when that happened. She vaguely remembered a lot of talking and words she didn't quite understand, like MOA, and match-grade, and actions.

"She's not answering," Peashy said in what had to be the loudest whisper ever. "I think that means yes."

Uni pursed her lips and glared at Peashy. Yellow Heart didn't seem to care one bit.

"But anyway, Nepgear," Uni said, turning back to her, "I wasn't talking about all the tech stuff in the Mark II. What I meant was, uh, that the Mark II has a lot less... coverage, and I know it's not the stuff you usually wear. Unless there's something I don't know about."

Coverage? She looked down at herself. The defensive projectors were at least fifteen percent stronger. While, yes, less of her body was directly armored, the stronger material and improved shields compensated for the fact that—

Oh.

She got it.

She felt her cheeks get quite a bit warmer. Gah.

The stronger material and improved shields compensated for the fact that Lilac Mark III was an armored bikini.

Geez, Uni just _had_ remind her, didn't she?

"Well, um, yes, you're right," she said, her voice totally not cracking or anything. "I for sure wouldn't wear so little when I'm not in HDD. It's just went I enter my goddess aspect I kind of... don't notice it. I forget about it. Until someone brings it up."

Uni blinked. "Oh. Sorry."

"N-no problem." Time to change the subject, and she'd forget about her lack of clothes in a few seconds. "Since, uh, we're on that subject, what about you, Uni?"

Black Sister looked down at her own Processor. It was the new Generation unit, and it somehow managed to cover less than Lilac Mark III.

"Oh, you mean this? I honestly don't care one way or the other."

Wow. Wished she had _that_ kind of confidence.

"You know, Nepgear," she heard Peashy call to her. "I think it looks really neat. You think you could do something like that for my Processor?"

She took a glance over at Yellow Heart, who was taller, broader, and... larger in certain areas. Peashy's Processor was a cutting edge model and she was betting it would be crazy good to mod. Hmm. If she started with with new molecular circuitry and integrated that over a buckyball gel, she could...

* * *

The crescent moon had begun to rise in the sky when the girl stirred in her bed. Ruby shrugged off the covers and sat up, legs crossed.

For several minutes the girl stayed like that, completely motionless except for the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

And then the dark room grew bright.

* * *

Kaveri sat up in bed. Frowning, she tapped her palmtop on the dresser beside her bed. A hologram with the time popped up. Just after midnight. She rubbed her eyes. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something felt off.

It was just probably her nerves, and the nightmares. She hadn't had trouble falling asleep, but the memory of that freakish IGPU standing over her and Ruby, ready to slice them both in half had—

She shuddered. All right, this was going nowhere. She could probably go for a walk or something outside, get her head screwed back on straight.

She swung herself out of bed, her right arm—what was left of it, anyway—throbbing as she did. It was annoying as hell, but she'd just have to get used to it.

She grabbed her suede duster off the chair beside the bed and slipped her feet into a pair of sandals. With a little bit of contorting, she managed to get the jacket on and the sandals strapped. She really needed to practice this more.

She quietly opened her door. No need to... wake up Ruby?

The lights were on in her sister's bedroom.

Huh. Maybe the kid was having trouble getting to sleep, too. Maybe she could talk with Ruby for a bit instead of wandering around outside. Yeah, that worked.

She knocked on the door. "Ruby, you up? Mind talking for a few?"

No answer. Hmm. Maybe Ruby had left the lights on and knocked out?

She looked down to the floor. The light leaking out from under the door wasn't the gold illumination of their house lamps, it was silvery. The hell?

"Ruby? I'm coming in!" she called. Still no response. She turned the knob—unlocked—and entered.

She stopped breathing.

Her sister sat up in bed, cross-legged, a glowing, silvery haze surrounding Ruby. In front of her sister, hovering a foot off the bed, was a solid looking piece of machinery, also glowing. As she stood there, slack jawed, Ruby reached up into the mist. Her sister's hand clenched, and the mist solidified into some kind of component or part. Her sister brought it down and placed it into the assembly in front of her.

Before she knew what she was doing she had run over to the bed and grabbed onto her sister's shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby! Ruby! What the hell's all this?"

Ruby didn't say anything. Instead, her sister slowly turned to look at her.

Her blood froze.

Ruby's silvery eyes no longer had their normal, human pupil. Instead, burning a bright red, were shapes that looked like the universal power symbol.

No.

No no no _no_!

Her hand dropped away, numb. She took a few steps back and barely noticed when she tripped over something and landed on the floor.

Ruby turned back and continued working.

She knew what it was. _She knew it_. Ruby was in a trance state, using Share energy to craft a GRAFX unit. It was as close to building a weapon out of your soul as it came.

Her mind flashed to Maxim Scarlet. The same thing had happened when she'd manifested as an IGPU. Go to sleep one night, wake up in the morning to find two gauntlets on the bed next to you and a lot of power jumping around your veins. She couldn't remember it, of course, but Kabini had told her what it was like. It was just like this.

Except an IGPU's eyes didn't change like that. IGPUs developed the _outline_ of the power symbol over their regular pupils when they went hard and heavy in the Share department. Her own eyes only really changed when she called on her SHADR.

But to have your pupil completely replaced with that glowing mark, that meant a full fledged GPU.

Radeon's mantle had flowed to _Ruby_.

She sat there in shock, mind thinking a million things, as Ruby slowly and methodically constructed a GRAFX unit.

A few second or or minutes or hours later—hell if she knew—Ruby stopped. Her sister's GRAFX had taken the form of a large mechanical scythe, red, silver, and black.

She scrambled up from the floor as her sister took the GRAFX and stood up.

"Ruby?" she heard herself say. This was a bad dream, wasn't it? She'd wake up in the morning, and there wouldn't be a glowing Ruby, she'd have her arm back, and they could have soup at Beacon.

Please.

Please.

Ruby started walking to the door. She jumped in front of her sister.

"Ruby, stop. Where are you going?"

"I have to meet them," her sister said. Ruby's eyes were looking _through_ Kaveri, looking at something only she could see.

"Please, Ruby," she pleaded. "Just get back to bed. We can figure this out the morning. We can... we can do something."

Except that was a lie. Once the GPU mantle had passed, it stayed. It was permanent.

Ruby said nothing. She grabbed her sister's shoulder with her one good hand and shook. "Come on Ruby, just go back to sleep. Your... your GRAFX is done. We'll deal with this tomorrow."

Ruby blinked, and those glowing eyes finally focused on her. A small part of her mind noticed Ruby's hair was no longer pure jet black, but was now streaked with red.

"I'm sorry Kaveri. I have meet them now, otherwise it'll be bad."

And then Ruby pulled away from her grasp, and was gone in a blur.

No!

She charged out of the bedroom, racing through the house. She made it outside just in time to catch a glimpse of a glimmer heading west. Damn, that was fast. She had gotten outside in only a few seconds, and Ruby was already miles away. That was probably faster than even Radeon. Way faster than her, at any rate.

She'd just have to catch up.

She reached out to the currents of Share energy and called them to herself, molding it into the shapes of her SHADR and GRAFX. Ugh. It was being... more jittery than usual. Vibrating, almost. Had to concentrate, focus, otherwise it would...

It would break apart into splinters of light.

She fell to her knees as her armor and weapon dissolved around her. Either she really was as weak as Kabini seemed to think, or all the crap that happened the last couple of days had knocked a screw loose in her head. Whatever the case was, she wasn't going to be able to help Ruby with whatever was going to happen.

She screamed in rage, slamming her good fist into the ground in frustration. She hated this, _hated it_. This feeling of helplessness. Just like when the dark IGPU had smacked her around like a child, and now, again, as her kid sister went flying off to do who knows what.

She had to be there for her sister, not this sobbing, angry, crippled, useless wreck. She was better than this.

Right?

She honestly didn't know. Not anymore.

She collapsed to the ground and started sobbing.

* * *

Mission was a _go_!

Well it kind of had been for a few hours already, but it just seemed more dramatic this way.

"I see the island," Nepgear heard Uni say from beside her. "Range is just over a fifty miles."

She squinted. Ah, there it was. She could just barely make out the island in the darkness with her own Share and Processor enhanced vision. Uni's eyesight had always been good, both in and out of HDD.

"Let's get to shore and we can figure out what to do next," she said.

"Sounds good," replied Uni.

"I'm getting pooped, anyway," grumbled Peashy.

After talking a bit with Uni, who seemed to know things about military protocol, they'd decided to reduce their airspeed to only a few hundred miles an hour and had dropped altitude. Like, _really_ dropped altitude. She bet if she stretched she could almost touch the waves.

According to Uni, there were two ways they could do this. Stay at high speed and altitude, and announce their presence to whatever air traffic control was in Emdi to make this visit all official and stuff. Or, they could slower and lower to dodge the radar and go in all ninja-like.

Neptune had thought it would be better to be discreet, so option two it was.

Anyway, at their current velocity they should make it to shore before midnight, which would give them some time to find someplace to sleep. Neptune had upped her allowance for the week, so they could pay for a nice inn or something.

Wait a second. Now that she thought about it, they didn't even know if Graphicard used credits. Their money might be useless. They might have to sleep on the street tonight. Aw. That was totally unheroic.

"So, you think we should look for a place to sleep as soon as we hit shore?" she heard Black Sister ask. "Or maybe try to gather some information?"

They'd have to find a _dumpster_. Why did this always happen to her?

"Wait, what?" she heard Uni ask, confused. "What does a dumpster have to do with anything?"

Oh, gosh, she'd said it out loud!

"Um... you said that out loud too," Peashy said.

She moaned.

"But if you want my vote," Yellow Heart said, "I want to get to bed as soon as we can. I'm going to sleep for a whole day. Then we can put you in the dumpst— _Bwah_!"

She whipped her head around just in time to see Peashy flop into the water. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something skipping away along the surface of the ocean before it faded from sight.

Huh. It just disappeared. Frowning, she materialized her beam rifle and looped back to where Yellow Heart had dropped. She saw Uni deploy her pulse cannon and follow a little ways behind her.

She circled over where Peashy had sunk. "Peashy!" she called. "What was that? Are you okay?"

Nothing. Should she dive in and—

" _Nepgear_!" she heard Uni yell. A charge of green energy flashed over her shoulder towards something above her. Instinctively she she aimed her own weapon to whatever Uni was aiming at.

Except there was nothing there.

"It disappeared!" Black Sister called to her.

Something fast, strong enough to knock Peashy into the water, and possibly invisible. Not good. Normally Uni would cover her from range while she got in close, but something this quick and elusive would be able to slip past her and target Black Sister directly, and Uni wasn't particularly strong in a melee.

"Get close to me!" she yelled. "Together!"

"Got it," Uni acknowledged. Black Sister started moving her way.

And got knocked spinning. No!

Uni started to stabilize in the air, but she saw something looping around on another attack run. She focused on the streak, and targeting solutions appeared in her vision as her Processor unit lent some extra brainpower.

There. She lifted her beam rifle and sighted the blur. Just as she squeezed the trigger, her target faded from sight. Ugh. Not again! This was turning out to be really unfair.

She made her way to Uni, who'd managed to stabilize in the air. She pressed her back to Black Sister's and started looking around. Where was it?

"Are you okay?" she asked her friend.

"Yeah," Uni answered. "Wasn't a bad hit, just surprising."

Well, that was good. Well, not _good_ , but not as bad.

She felt Uni stiffen. "To your left."

She immediately sighted her rifle to where Uni had said. There wasn't anything—

Wait. No. She could see a distortion in the air, like heat rising up from a hot sidewalk. As she stared at it, it shimmered, and suddenly there was someone floating there.

What the goodness?

Looked like a girl about her or Uni's age. Small, skinny—though not as slim as Uni—and wearing breeches, a jacket, and a shirt under it. To be specific, white pants, a pink shirt, and a brown jacket. Talk about wacky color schemes. The girl's hair was weird, too, a crazy mix the same color as her clothes.

It wasn't _that_ weird, though compared to the armored plates and devices that were strapped to the various parts of the girl's body or floated near her.

Which looked _very_ similar to the Processor units of a CPU.

"Hey, what's your problem?" she heard Uni snap.

The maybe-CPU slowly shook her head and wagged a finger at them.

She blinked. "Um... are you _scolding_ us?" she asked incredulously.

Their attacker rolled her eyes. Then the girl frowned, pointing a finger west, back the way the three of them had come.

"You're telling us to leave?" Uni asked, sounding more confused than angry now.

The girl rolled here eyes again.

"Ugh, you're _really_ starting to annoy me," Uni growled. "Use your words, why don't you?"

The girl sighed—or she thought it was a sigh, because she actually didn't hear one—and made a gesture with her hands.

Light shimmered around the girl and solidified into what looked like two spears. Not just any spears, though. They were short, about three feet long total, with about a third of that taken up by blade. They also looked partially mechanical, like a smaller version of what Green Heart used.

She thought about that last part.

Okay, this could be bad.

Then the girl charged, again fading from view. She quickly brought her beam rifle up and squeezed off a burst of shots at where she'd last seen the CPU. Nothing connected. She brought her weapon back to a guard position in case—

A flicker above her!

She grunted as the enemy CPU stabbed at her with those spears. She deflected the attack away and shoved the girl back. She felt Uni break away behind her to open up some distance.

The other CPU rebounded midair and came at her again. And _fast_ , too! It was taking all her concentration just to stop from getting poked or slashed. Really hoped Uni was able to shoot soon.

She gasped as a spear slipped past and slashed across her stomach. Luckily, her shield projectors reacted and the blow bounced off. Ugh. That wasn't very nice.

She threw a punch at the CPU's face, overloading the capacitors in her glove as she did so. She called this attack Gear Knuckle, because Nep _gear_ and knuckle and... yeah. Lame. Maybe Critical Knuckle? That could be cool.

It didn't matter what she called it, though, since it whiffed. It still made her attacker dance back a bit to gain distance. The girl hovered a few yards off from her, twirling those spears lazily. After a few flourishes the enemy CPU gathered herself up, probably for another pass, and she tensed.

And that's when a geyser decided to explode under the colorful girl's feet. The CPU pirouetted to the side as Peashy exploded from the water.

" _OKAY_!" she heard the soggy Yellow Heart roar. " _NOW I_ ' _M ANGRY!_ _SEAWATER MAKES ME FEEL STICKY SO I'LL NEED TO TAKE A BATH AND I HATE TAKING BATHS_!"

Um. Yellow Heart angry?

She saw the girl stare at Peashy, head cocked. Probably was as confused as she and Uni were.

" _AND WHEN YOU KICKED ME_ , _IT_ _STUNG_!"

She glanced over Uni. Uni glanced over to her. They both shrugged.

She did learn something, possibly. Judging by how annoyed Yellow Heart sounded—as opposed to pained or disoriented—the attack that had knocked Peashy into the ocean hadn't done too much damage, but probably had been a shock. Made sense considering what Uni had told her earlier. Hmm. Thinking back on it, when one of the spears had gotten past her guard and struck her shields, it hadn't done much damage.

She was jerked out of her thoughts when Peashy yelled something about bathwater and charged the other CPU. The girl did the usual trick of dodging away and shimmering out of sight. Aw. Now they were going to have be on the defensive until the CPU showed up a again.

Or not. She watched Peashy, yelling about bubble baths, zigzag through the air while throwing strikes with her clawed gauntlets. As she followed Peashy with her eyes, she could see Yellow Heart keeping up with a faint distortion in the air. Hmm. The cloaking wasn't perfect. If you caught sight of the girl you could probably keep track even through the invisibility. Her and Uni's problem had been even spotting it in the darkness.

But now...

She brought her beam rifle back to bear and plotted targeting solutions while Peashy zoomed around doing Peashy things. This was going to be tough, because the other CPU was zipping around all over the place, but Yellow Heart tailing the girl so closely helped so much.

There. She had a good lock. Not perfect, but good enough.

"Uni?" she asked, not taking her eyes of the target.

"Got lock," her friend replied.

"Peashy!" she yelled. "Back off!"

She was worried that Peashy would ignore her—which would be a terrible thing for a protagonist—and keep on chasing the CPU. Luckily, Yellow Heart, now ranting about seaweed, disengaged.

Then she and Uni let loose.

* * *

The night sky lit up as Nepgear's fast-cycling beam rifle and Uni's slower firing but harder hitting pulse cannon went live. Violet and emerald energy blasts streaked towards the two CPUs' target, scorching the air as they passed.

The target, the Emdi IGPU Trinity, artfully slid past the initial barrage. Despite her youthful appearance, Trinity was one of the older IGPUs of Graphicard, and what she lacked in raw power, she made up for with decades of experience.

The petite woman wasn't particularly strong, nor did she possess any noteworthy defensive power. What Trinity was was fast, and that speed came coupled with impressive agility that allowed the IGPU to change vectors in midair nigh instantly and seemingly in defiance of physics.

That natural slipperiness was compounded by her Semblance Protocol, a unique function of her SHADR armor. The Semblance, Tricolor Haze, was a form of active camouflage that distorted and bent light around her. In daylight, Trinity was reduced to a fast moving smear. At night, under the meager light of a waning moon, it was virtual invisibility.

It was not perfect, though. Yellow Heart had sighted the faint shimmering of the cloaking field and had hounded the IGPU over the ocean, her wild blows not quite able to reach the weaving IGPU. However, having an enraged Peashy force away Trinity from the other CPUs had given Purple Sister and Black Sister enough time to plot out targeting vectors.

Trinity was able to dodge, for a time. However, Nepgear and Uni, while nowhere near as experienced as Trinity was, were no strangers to fighting. They instinctively coordinated their fire, walking their barrages so as to bracket the IGPU's shimmering cloak between them.

Then they began to tighten their fire.

Even while frantically dodging the energy fire, Trinity recognized that in only a few moments she was going to be struck one of those blasts. She did not know the capabilities of the CPUs—whom she regarded as invaders in need of expulsion—and was not keen on taking a shot to gauge its power.

She slammed Share energy into her SHADR, flooding her cloaking projectors with power. The overloaded nodes wrenched light in a sphere fifteen feet in diameter around Trinity... and briefly stopped functioning as they should. For a few heartbeats, Nepgear and Uni had clear sight of the IGPU, and they immediately corrected their aim.

And then the distorted light snapped back in a blinding ripple, dazzling Nepgear, Uni, and Peashy. The three CPUs briefly caught a glimpse as their quarry seemed to shatter, as if made of glass.

Granted a few moments by the disorienting implosion, Trinity slammed her twin assegais together, coaxing them to change. Morphing and melding, Blood Law settled into its alternate form, a stockless, stubby side-by-side shotgun with a protective barrel shroud. The weapon fired charges of condensed Share energy, and while the range was poor it was more than able to shatter a target at close ranges.

Much like Kaveri, Trinity thrived in close, violent melees. However, while Kaveri simply outlasted her opponent in a battle of attrition, Trinity used her natural elusiveness, forcing her opponent to throw blow after blow that would not connect. Once the enemy was made sluggish with fatigue and frustration, Trinity would strike. She had an almost clinical knowledge of how to inflict injury on a target at arm's length, and both the assegei and shotgun form of Trinity's GRAFX facilitated that.

Before she could recover from the blinding effect of camouflage implosion, Peashy was greeted by a point blank blast to her face. The condensed energy buckshot splattered against Yellow Heart's Share energy barrier, which held—barely—but sent the CPU tumbling back into the ocean. By then Trinity had already shifted vectors and was heading straight for Nepgear and Uni.

Black Sister, too, barely had enough time to catch the glimpse of Blood Law's muzzle before it discharged at close range. Uni's defensive barrier was nowhere near as strong as Peashy's, and the charge of condensed energy shot would have broken through to Uni's body, lacerating her abdomen, had Nepgear not deduced that Black Sister was the target and fortified her friend with a defensive Share energy protocol. The strengthened shields held, but Uni was knocked senseless by the impact.

With two immediate targets out of commission, albeit temporarily, Trinity moved against Purple Sister.

And was met with a flurry of laser fire.

Knowing a follow up shot had the potential to severely injure—even kill—Black Sister, Nepgear took the offensive and charged straight at Trinity. Between the suddenness of the reversal and her sheer surprise, Trinity was only able to fire a hastily aimed blast before she weaved around the barrage. Even imperfectly aimed, most of the discharge struck Purple Sister, and Nepgear felt the sting of the impact.

Nepgear, however, was not nearly as frail as Uni was, and she simply shrugged off the blast as her personal shield absorbed and deflected the attack. Nepgear continued her pursuit of the clearly visible IGPU, whose camouflage system was still recovering from its overload.

Earlier, Trinity had correctly deduced that Peashy was a close-in fighter and that Nepgear and Uni both carried ranged weapons. The purpose of the projection that swept forward from beneath Nepgear's beam rifle like a futuristic bayonet had completely escaped the IGPU.

The oversight cost her as Nepgear managed to close in under cover of her rifle bolts and slam her blade into Trinity. The IGPU's SHADR defensive barrier sparked and spattered under the blow of Nepgear's Share energized blade.

As someone who survived enemy attacks by the simple virtue of not taking them in the first place, this put Trinity in a bit of an inconvenient position. The blade didn't penetrate, but the shield recoiled under Nepgear's not-inconsiderable strength, leaving a painful bruise on Trinity's unarmored flank. Trinity snarled—the first sound she'd made since encountering the Gamindustri CPUs—and ripped her GRAFX in half.

It spoke volumes of Trinity's experience and wherewithal that even surprised, injured, and holding a ranged weapon, she was willing to reengage the Planeptune CPU in close combat. GRAFX morphed back into twin spears, Trinity clashed with Nepgear.

But this time it was different. Before, Trinity had just wanted to look in on these newcomers to Emdi waters, perhaps poking at them to entertain herself, before shooing them out. Trinity considered Emdi to be hers—sovereignty of the GPU and presence of her fellow IGPUs notwithstanding—and would not tolerate interlopers.

She had given them fair warning, and if they refused to leave in a timely matter, well, a little blood loss or maiming never hurt anyone. It might even be amusing.

That carefree self indulgence had abruptly evaporated when Nepgear had managed to strike Trinity. To touch others was a privilege to be exercised. To _be_ touched was unforgivable. That hypocrisy was, of course, completely lost on Trinity.

Teeth bared in a manic rictus, Trinity struck hard and fast at Purple Sister, moving faster and faster as the IGPU discerned patterns and weaknesses in Nepgear's defense.

The fight could only end one way. Nepgear was a CPU, and by rights commanded more raw power, objectively speaking, than Trinity ever could. Neither was Purple Sister a newcomer to conflict, having combated Arfoire in this dimension, and the rogue CPU of Tari in another.

But that wasn't enough, not against the decades of experience Trinity possessed... or the sudden bloodthirsty ruthlessness of the Emdi IGPU.

It was over almost before it began. Spears weaved around Nepgear's defenses, hammering swift, measured strokes into the CPU's abdomen. HDD shields held, strained, then broke, leaving Nepgear vulnerable.

With a twist and flick, Trinity batted Nepgear's beam rifle out of alignment and drove a spear towards the CPU's unprotected belly.

* * *

She had to get there. She had to make it.

Ruby wasn't sure who these people were, or why she had to go to them. Something was... almost whispering to her. Not in words, not even in pictures, but with ideas, feelings. Sounded absolutely nuts.

Worse, she didn't know _what_ she was doing, either. It was almost like her body was moving on its own. Almost. She was telling it to do things, but _how_ , exactly, she was flying really quickly above the ocean just went right over her head. Numbers and symbols appeared in her vision. Just like everything else, she had no idea what they meant, but at the same time she could tell that Trinity and the three GPU-like people were eight hundred and twenty-three yards in front of her at an altitude of thirty-seven feet.

The symbols and numbers shifted, and she knew—at the same time not knowing—that at her current velocity she would be able to engage with Axiom Rose at melee range in just over two seconds.

Axiom Rose. Weird name for a weird weapon. But she'd chosen that name—or not—because she'd built it—but not really. She just knew that this techno-scythe GRAFX thing was hers, and it was named Axiom Rose.

As she got closer, she saw Trinity blast one of the new GPUs—the blonde—into the ocean, while the black-haired one was sent spinning head over heels. The last one, the girl with purple hair, fought at close range with Trinity, and lost. She was going to get stabbed.

And suddenly she was there. She felt her body move, and Axiom Rose's haft slapped into one of Trinity's spears, deflecting the blow.

Trinity let out a surprised gasp and spun away from her, eyes wide. The IGPU hovered a few yards from her, just staring. It should've been too dark, but she clearly saw Trinity's weird eyes, one a soft brown, the other a freaky pink.

Those eyes narrowed at her. "Impossible."

* * *

Nepgear blinked. One second she was moments away from getting stabbed—owie—and the next something had blurred in front of her, too quickly to make out, and... no stabbiness.

Instead of a spear into the stomach, a new CPU floated in front of her, hovering between her and the spear CPU. Well, it _was_ a CPU, right? Only a CPU would have the armor plating, the shield projectors, and those flight control surfaces, right? Even if said pieces and parts were set over... were those pajamas? Yeah, those were pajamas.

She kept quiet as the two strange CPUs just... stared at each other. How would a real take-charge kind of person do this? Ask the newcomer who she was and why she had helped? Hmm. That might work.

The more she thought about it, though, the more she wondered. This new girl's color scheme was primarily red with silver and black detailing and highlights. Totally obvious villain colors. Worse, the new CPU seemed to have a _scythe_ for a weapon. She'd played enough games with Neptune and watched enough anime to know that someone who used a scythe was a card-carrying bad guy.

She really, really hoped Uni and Peashy were in okay shape to fight.

Sure, the scythe CPU had saved her, but maybe the newcomer was the boss or something, and wanted to finish her off personally? Wowee, did that mean she'd finally found a nemesis? And if she had one did that mean she was finally protagonist status? That was the first step to becoming a hero, right?

"Uh... who's the pajama reaper over there?" she heard Uni ask from behind her.

"No clue. She saved me, though, I think."

"Yeah, I saw." Uni floated around to hover next to her. "So, want me to see if Peashy's okay while we, uh, wait? She did get knocked into the ocean. Again."

She thought about that for a second. "It's Peashy."

"Guess that's true."

No sooner had Uni finished talking when she heard a splash from beneath her. She turned to look.

"Going to take a hundred rubber duckies, and use all those chain things Plutia has in her bedroom and tie her up! Then I'm going to throw her into a lake and use her as a _surfboard_!" she heard Peashy hiss.

Well, good to see Yellow Heart was all right.

She started a bit when the scythe CPU turned to look at her and the others. Whoa. The new girl was only a few paces off from her, and with her Processor enhanced vision she could clearly see the girl's face. She had gray eyes... and pupils that were shaped like hers or Black Sister's or Yellow Heart's or Purple Heart's. The power symbol.

Except these ones glowed red.

She tensed up. If she had been maybe slightly sorta unsure that this new CPU was bad, she was certain now. If the scythe and color scheme weren't enough, red eyes were a Grade A sign of villainhood.

Weird thing, though, was those weren't focused on her or Uni or Peashy. They just kind of stared off in their general direction.

"Are you all right?" the CPU asked them. Eh? No gloating or evil laughter? What was this?

"Um... could be worse, I guess," she answered, trying to stall. Badly. And she didn't even know why she wanted to stall.

"Good. My name's Ruby, and I'm the... I'm the GPU of Emdi." The girl frowned when said that, like she was confused about something.

She blinked. Speaking of confused, though...

She was deciding whether to tell Ruby that hi, she was Nepgear, or to ask what the goodness a GPU was.

Luckily, she didn't have to decide because the spear CPU—or was it GPU?—suddenly charged at Ruby.

Uh... what?

Without really thinking she started tracking her beam rifle on the spear girl, but couldn't get a solid lock because Ruby was in the way. She _might_ be wrong about Ruby's villain status, so she didn't want to muzzle sweep or whatever those fancy words Uni knew for doing bad things with guns.

The spear girl took a swipe at Ruby and—

Her eyes widened. With a blur and an explosion of particles that looked like glowing rose petals, Ruby _vanished_. Not faded from sight like the spear GPU had, _vanished_. She looked around wildly, as did the spear girl. So, a surprise to everyone, huh?

She eventually spotted Ruby, hanging in the air behind and a little above the spear GPU. The other GPU wheeled around and stabbed at Ruby again... who disappeared in another flurry of petals.

On a good day, her sister or Vert in their goddess aspects could move so fast it looked like they disappeared. Something about it, though, told her it wasn't the same. It was just... too fast? Something like that. Even she could see a blur of her sister when Neptune really wanted to move, and she wasn't as quick as Uni—who she honest-to-goodness believed could almost track bullets midair.

Whatever it was that Ruby was doing, it wasn't just a case of move-really-really-fast.

The spear GPU kept on chasing Ruby, and Ruby kept on poofing away.

Well, until the red GPU stopped. She gasped when Ruby moved her scythe and effortlessly batted another spear strike away.

"Trinity! Stop!" she heard Ruby plead.

Trinity—she guessed the spear girl had to be Trinity—just growled and darted in at Ruby again. Trinity threw blow after blow at Ruby, and each was deflected away.

She kept her beam rifle pointed in the direction of—but not _at,_ because that would make Uni angry—the two fighting GPUs. Hrm? That was kind weird.

Trinity and Ruby were moving very quickly—a lot faster than she could manage, and, maybe, only slightly slower than Sis. But no matter how fast they moved they had to reset, reposition. And when they did, she sometimes saw Ruby's face.

It was like no one was home, like Ruby was in a trance. It was the same look Neptune sometimes had when Histoire gave her big sister a lecture and Neptune just kind of zoned out but didn't go so far as to fall asleep. She saw Trinity take another swipe at Ruby, and the smaller girl just parried the blow away with a look of puzzlement on her face.

"She's moving weird," she heard Peashy say.

"Weird? How?"

"Dunno. It's like one of your weirdo robots. They move fast and stuff, but they feel clunky. Looks like that Ruby lady."

She focused on the two battling goddesses and enhanced her vision more with her Processor. Peashy was right. Ruby was moving super fast and super precisely, but it was like...

"It's like she's a puppet on strings," she heard Uni whisper.

* * *

Ruby heard the girl's whisper.

Was she a puppet, though? She couldn't be sure. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Maybe both at the same time.

She stared as Trinity took another stab at her face. She knew she didn't want any of that, so she told her body to move. And it did. Almost like she was moving it, but not. Almost like someone else was moving it, but also not.

So weird.

She parried, and something told her there was an opening. Again, she told her body to move, and it twisted, using Axiom Rose's blade to hook one of Trinity's weapons and drag her closer. Then she spun, slamming the haft of her scythe into the IGPU's shoulder in an overhand blow.

Wow. Hard hit. She saw Trinity actually skip across the water before recovering.

She saw Trinity snarl at her, banging her GRAFX together and transforming it into its shotgun form.

She called to Axiom Rose, and... something flowed through her and into her GRAFX. Her scythe melded and reconfigured into another of its forms, a heavy linear cannon. She felt herself heft it against her hip to stabilize it, and lights and symbols swam across her vision. She knew/didn't know that she almost had the...perfect... shot. There!

She squeezed the handle, and a bolt of condensed Share energy roared out of the cannon. The spike sizzled past Trinity—a few inches to the left and it would've gone through the IGPU's face—and slammed into the ocean in an explosion of steam.

Trinity stopped moving, completely, and just stared at her.

Her body heaved the cannon and pointed its muzzle towards the sky. Some part of her factored in her reaction time and Trinity's speed, and knew, somehow, that she had plenty of time to land a shot square into the IGPU if Trinity wanted to fight more.

She hoped Trinity wouldn't. Something was whispering to her that Trinity had a slight chance of defeating her in combat, confused and disoriented and weirded out as she was. Only, though, if Trinity was fresh. Tired and injured from fighting the trio from the west, the IGPU wouldn't have a chance.

And she wasn't sure she could control her body well enough to make sure she didn't kill the IGPU

Trinity just settled for glaring at her as the IGPU cloaked. Even with the camouflage, she could just barely make out Trinity, who she could see—and not see—was heading back to the island.

She felt her body turn to face the three westerners, who all looked as confused and wary as she felt.

And she hadn't even gotten their names yet, had she?

She felt herself look down at them, and felt her mouth move. "I'm sorry about that." Was she? Wasn't she? "I didn't catch your names."

The three strange GPUs looked at each other, then the one with white SHADR armor glided forward. The leader, maybe?

"Er, hello. My name's Nepgear, and I'm the CPU Candidate of Planeptune."

She had no idea what a CPU or Planeptune were, while at the same time knowing a CPU was the equivalent of a GPU in Gamindustri, the far western continent, where the nation of Planeptune was.

"And, er, over here is Uni" Nepgear continued, pointing to the slender, white-haired girl with black SHADR and large cannon. "She's the CPU Candidate of Lastation." Nepgear motioned to the last girl, a tall blonde in gold-trimmed white. "And last over here is Peashy. She's a CPU of Planeptune, but the Planeptune of a different dimension, so not my Planeptune."

She had no idea what that last part meant. Maybe she'd ask about it later. Or ask her body to ask for her.

She hoped she could wake up soon.

"So, er, I'm guessing you're all tired," she heard herself say. "You can rest at my home.

She saw Nepgear's eyes widen, Uni's eyes narrow, and Peashy continue looking confused.

"I promise," she heard herself continue. "I'm not an enemy."


	6. Chapter 4

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

What the hell was she doing?

Kaveri stared at the glass on the table. Damned thing was was full of her... sixth shot of gin. Was that right? Might be seven, or eight. The bottle on the table wasn't looking so full.

She didn't drink often. For one, being an IGPU made it kind of tough to get smashed. She'd gone out with some people from the guilds once, after a successful joint operation. She'd knocked back about triple what the others had drunk before she'd started to feel a buzz. It'd get expensive if she wanted to make a habit of getting plastered.

Second, she just... didn't want to expose Ruby to stuff like that. Overprotective? Maybe. There was a little part of that at least wanted to be responsible, and getting wasted in front of your kid sister was probably the dictionary opposite of that. Hell, though. Ruby was fifteen now. Not exactly a little kid anymore. Letting Ruby see her knocking a few back would maybe be okay.

Just drinking, though. On the—depressingly rare—occasion she brought a guy home she would still make triply sure Ruby wasn't be around. That was an entire different can of worms, and she wasn't going to change her position on that anytime soon.

God, the birds and the bees talk had been awkward. Well, it was probably always kind of awkward, but even more so when your sister was eight, you were sixteen, and you barely knew how the stuff worked yourself. Rod A going into Slot B just kind of didn't cut it.

Man.

She grabbed the shot and tossed it back. Cheap stuff. Burned going down. She reached to pour another shot when it suddenly struck her how crappy of a sister she was being.

She should've thought of what she could do for Ruby after her sister had taken off for the ocean. She could've tried to summon SHADR again, at least, or make a call to Kabini to check up on Ruby for her. But no, she couldn't get over herself and spent a few minutes bawling into the road. When she'd realized how stupid that had been she'd gone back into the house, gotten the bottle out, and started...

Being even more stupid.

She lowered her head and rested it on the table. This was no bueno. She should be _doing_ something. But what? She was just a washed up one-armed wonder, while her sister was now _the_ power of Emdi. She still couldn't wrap her head around that part. Happy, energetic Ruby... now a GPU. Maybe if she went to sleep right now, everything would be fine in the morning. They'd get ready for their weekly soup ritual, she'd have both arms, and Ruby wouldn't have weird eyes and a personal GRAFX.

Yeah, right.

She stared hard at the bottle and glass on the table. Screw this. She was a bunch of things, but a depressive whiner wasn't one of them. She screwed the cap back onto the bottle—kind of a chore, being one handed and everything—and put it back in the cupboard. She slipped her sandals back on and stepped back outside.

She could wait a bit, at least, for her sister to come back.

She looked up at the stars, and imagined one of those points of lights was Ruby. It was probably going to hit her later, hard, that her sister, her goofy, bubbly, friendly sister, was now a virtual goddess. She just hoped whatever it was that made a GPU a GPU gave her Ruby back, and that the other-Ruby with those strange eyes who'd built that GRAFX in a trance, the other Ruby who'd stared blankly past her and disappeared from sight without a sign, was just temporary.

Man, forget her arm. It was gone. She'd deal. She just wanted her little sister back.

She took a deep breath, released it, and looked back to the sky.

Hmm. One of the stars she was looking at had a faintly reddish hue. She sometimes spotted those, here and there, at night. Besides and the blue and white lights, something red—Emdi's national color and Ruby's favorite—just seemed soothing.

Although, why the hell was it getting bigger?

Oh, crap.

She squinted, and saw three other lights flying in formation around that growing red one. Growing. Meaning getting closer.

No idea what they were. Should couldn't get her SHADR up and running, so she'd better call it in to Kabini. Wait. _Dammit_. Her palmtop was still in her room, and she had a feeling those lights would touch down before she could get it.

She clenched her fists—fist—and waited. She had a gut feeling that one of those lights was Ruby. No clue what the others were. For all she knew they were those freaky IGPU things from a few days ago on a GPU hunt. She could—

She could watch as the red dot exploded into glowing bits before appearing, closer, before exploding again.

She was deciding whether to dive back into the house or start running when Ruby appeared in front of here. Snap. Just like that, amid a flurry of particles that looked like glowing flower petals.

She didn't know what to do. They just stared at each other. Come on, Kaveri, something, anything.

She was just about to open her mouth to say something—what, exactly, she wasn't sure—when the GPU's CORE armor flickered, and suddenly it was just Ruby standing in front of her in pajamas, wavering a little on her feet. Her sister's silver eyes were back to normal.

Then Ruby looked her in the eyes—not past her, not through her, _at_ her—and said, "Kaveri?"

Ruby. It was still Ruby. Without really thinking about it she had rushed forward and wrapped her little sister in a tight hug.

"Welcome back, kid," she said.

"Mmm," Ruby said thickly. "Have guests over. Hope it's okay."

Ruby must be talking about the other lights. Hmm. Guests. Meant they weren't trying to kill her little sister.

"As long as they don't leave a mess," she said, trying to figure out what to do. First impulse was to say hell no to that noise, and let these "guests" find their own housing. That was probably the best way to go, since Ruby didn't look so hot right now and her own SHADR and GRAFX were on the fritz.

"When they get here," Ruby slurred, "blonde is Peashy, one in black is Uni, and... white and purple is Nepgear. From way back west. Now I really need a nap."

Ruby would've dropped like a bag of rocks if she hadn't caught her sister. Oof. She was trying to figure out how to carry her sister inside with one arm when she heard three thumps close by.

She looked up and saw what were basically three GPUs, complete with CORE armor, set over... were those bikinis? Damn, the hell was going on tonight?

Sure enough, though, one was a blonde, one was dressed in black, and the last was in purple-edged white.

Instinctively, she angled her body so she was between the three strange CPUs—she remembered, they were called CPUs back west—and her conked-out little sister. Ruby had seemed cool with these three coming for a sleepover, but, personally, she still wasn't sure Ruby was all there at the moment. She was going to check herself and decided whether they stayed or not on _her_ terms.

"Who're you guys?" she asked.

The one in white—presumably Nepgear—took a step forward. "My name's Nepgear." The girl pointed to the others. "This is Uni and Peashy. We're CPUs from Gamindustri, back west."

At least they hadn't lied to her about their names, which, of course, assumed they hadn't lied to Ruby to begin with.

Man. Paranoia, much?

"It's a long way from the western continent," she said to Nepgear. "What brings you out this way?"

The white-armored "CPU" was about to answer, but the big blonde—Peashy—cut in.

"Can we talk inside or something? I'm pooped. You can talk to Nepgear all you want inside, right?"

She frowned. Yeah, no, that wasn't going to happen.

"Or you could tell me what the hell you're doing here. I'm not in the habit of inviting strangers into my house. Especially when they come calling in the middle of night and are armored up for a fight."

The three CPUs exchanged glances.

"A couple of days ago a friend of ours was attacked by several strange CPUs," Nepgear explained. "Our guilds discovered that something similar happened here in Emdi around the same time. We're just trying to get to the bottom of the attacks."

She frowned. Assuming they were telling the truth, that was bad news. If the clone IGPUs were all the way across the ocean, it meant this attack wasn't a one-off. They could attack again. Hell, for all she knew they might've taken a swing at Vida and Entel too.

Nepgear looked sincere, though, so she didn't think this was some elaborate ruse. Humph. Ruby had seemed to trust them.

"All right," she said, "come in. Name's Kaveri, by the way."

* * *

The muscles on the blonde weren't just for show. After the first few steps of trying to lug Ruby along, Peashy had offered to carry her little sister to her room. She's almost declined, but doing this one handed wasn't going to be easy—if it was even possible—and if the CPUs wanted to hurt them, well, there wasn't much she could do one way or another.

Kaveri finished tucking Ruby in—man, she hadn't done that in years—and walked back out to the living room.

"Okay," she said to the three CPUs. "There's a guest room down the hall. I'll get some sheets for the bed in a second. Two couches here in the living room. Divide it up how you want."

"Just give me a blankie and the couch will be fine," she heard Peashy say. The blonde flopped onto the smaller of the two couches, glowing brightly—what the hell, man?—as she fell.

"You can take the bigger—" she started to say, then stopped. A tall, muscular blonde with an... aggressively large rack had started dropping onto the couch. What hit the sofa, though, was a little blonde girl who couldn't have been more than eight.

The kid was snoring before she had landed.

She stared at that for a few seconds before turning to Nepgear and Uni. "Okay... what the _hell_?"

The two CPUs looked at each other.

"Uh..." Uni said. "You take this one." The black-armored CPU glowed the same way Peashy had a few seconds before. She expected a toddler to appear, but no, Uni stayed pretty much the same except for a shift in hair and eye color. And, really, that was a cute tube top dress.

"I'll take the guest room, if that's cool." Uni said.

"Uh, sure, knock yourself out. Sheets are on the shelf in the closet."

"Thanks. Night."

And then it was just her and Nepgear.

"So," she said to the CPU, "following the trend of Peashy getting younger and Uni staying the same, I'm betting you turn older when you deactivate CORE."

"Core?" the CPU asked, looking confused.

"Your armor."

"Oh, you mean HDD."

"To-may-to, to-mah-to."

It was Nepgear's turn to glow, and it turned out she was wrong. Like Uni, Nepgear didn't change much save for her hair and eyes. She looked Nepgear up and down. Cute girl, maybe a little more athletic than average, though it was hard to tell with that faux-sailor uniform Nepgear had going on. Combine that with a sweet, inoffensive expression and you had someone who almost begged to be bullied. Except you wouldn't bully the girl because it would be like kicking a box of puppies and you'd feel like a horrible person afterwards.

The girl started tapping her index fingers together in front of her in what was an obvious nervous tic. "So, um, you have questions?"

She rubbed the back of her neck. "I do. Let's move to the kitchen so we don't wake up wonder kid over there." She pulled a blanket out from the closet and threw it over Mini-Peashy.

She led the CPU to the kitchen and plopped down on her seat. Nepgear took a seat across the table from her.

"Sorry about the other two," Nepgear said to her. "The flight across the ocean was tiring, and I don't think they took a long nap like I did before we headed out. Plus they took harder hits than I did."

Harder hits? "What do you mean by that last bit?"

"A CPU—well, I guess the term here is GPU—attacked the three of us just as we entered Emdi airspace. I could've been badly injured if your sister hadn't come in when she did."

GPU? The only GPU in this area was Ruby. Hrm. Maybe Nepgear know about IGPUs and was just using GPU as an umbrella term. That made sense. What _didn_ ' _t_ was this story about being attacked. Kabini or Llano wouldn't just throw down without getting a story out of those three. Who would—

She grimaced. Dammit, she knew the answer.

"Let me guess," she said to the CPU. "Small, too many colors, double assegai?"

"Um, not sure what an assegai is, but the first two fit. Is she, uh, a friend of yours?"

"Trinity, you psychotic bitch," she muttered to herself. Then, to Nepgear, "Hell no, she's no friend of mine. I'd offer an apology for the rude welcome, but I want nothing to do with her."

"Oh. I see."

She massaged her forehead. That last little revelation was going to give her a headache.

"Before we go on, I'm going to brew some tea. Want some?"

"Oh. Yes, please."

Huh. Polite kid. She got up and went over the cupboard. She reached to open it when she realized she was trying to open it with her right hand. Awkward.

"Kaveri, would you like any help?"

"Do I look like I need help?" she snapped, then winced. Looking at this objectively, yes, it did look like she needed help. There was no damned reason to bite the poor girl's head off. "Sorry about that. The arm happened recently, and I'm still... adjusting. Yeah, an extra hand would be nice, terrible pun intended."

Nepgear just smiled and got up from the table. Kid was nice, too. "Don't worry about it. Now, what kind of tea do you have?"

* * *

Nepgear stared down at her mug. She was halfway through her third cup of tea, which was really yummy, by the way. There was this tea blend that was unique to Emdi, and it tasted great. They would probably go great with scones. Neptune would probably have it with pudding, but then again Neptune had everything with pudding.

She took a drink from her cup. She'd given some details to Kaveri on their mission here, and some background on Gamindustri. Kaveri had been interested in the four nations, especially how each had its own CPU. Apparently, here in Graphicard, things differed from nation to nation. In Emdi, there was a sole GPU with several independent IGPUs who could be deputized when there was need, like a giant robot attacking or something. Entel didn't have GPUs, rather, it had three very powerful IGPUs who governed the land with the help of the normal IGPUs. Also, in Entel, IGPUs had to be affiliated with the government, unlike the independent IGPUs of Emdi. Vida, the last nation, didn't even _have_ IGPUs, but instead had four GPUs who ruled jointly.

Kaveri had been also interested in how much the CPUs changed between human and HDD forms, whether it was dramatic like Neptune or Peashy or boring— _sigh_ —like her own. Apparently, IGPUs and GPUs didn't undergo any physical changes, hair color, eye color, or otherwise.

The whole GPU thing was quite interesting. Here in Graphicard the equivalents to CPUs were called GPUs—Governance Patron Units—and their version of Hard Drive Divinity was Condensed Overdrive Resonance. There were also the IGPUs, but instead of being junior CPUs like CPU Candidates were, the IGPUs were actually a lesser class—like minibosses!—who might be weaker than GPUs, but also had less limitations. Plus they were supposed to have spiffy SHADR armor, which she'd love to get her hands on. Processor units were constructed "normally" and summoned by a CPU's share power when they tapped into their goddess aspect. These SHADR things were built entirely of Share power and basically constructed every time an IGPU summoned them. She wondered if she could combine Processor technology with the SHADR. Ooh! The possibilities. She probably be able to reduce weight to her Processor unit and probably increase power output. Maybe she could use additional armor so a hypothetical Lilac Mark IV didn't looked like a bikini. The extra protection could—

"You know," she heard Kaveri say to her. Gah she was zoning out again. "Seeing as how Trinity just tried to off you guys—since you're all CPUs of your nations— _and_ my sister, I'm feeling compelled to go out and kick her ass on principle." The blonde sighed and leaned back into her chair. "If I did that I'd be biting off more than I could chew. Trinity's better at fighting than I am. Last time me and her got into a scuffle she beat me bad. Really bad. I pick a fight I'm liable to get straight up killed. And that was if I had _both_ arms."

"I'm sorry about that," she said. It was quite terrible, really. Kaveri had just been trying to protect Ruby, and the clone had just sliced the IGPU's arm off.

"In all honesty, I'm not. I mean, yeah, I kind of miss it, but if it was my arm or Ruby, I'd lose the arm every single time. You have a sister, right?"

"Yes. Her name's Neptune."

"I don't know anything about her other than her name's also Purple Heart, but I'm willing to bet she'd do the same thing, too."

She could agree with that. People didn't notice it because of Neptune's goofiness and laziness, but, deep down, Neptune really cared for everyone, and would take a bullet—or blade, or bomb, or claw, or hypercharged tachyon beam—for a friend. She herself would do the same for Neptune, or IF, or Compa, or Uni. The heroic sacrifice wouldn't be complete if the hero wouldn't do it, you know.

That being said, it wouldn't replace Kaveri's arm, though. From what was explained to her, IGPUs were just humans. Yes, stronger, faster, and tougher, with access to GRAFX and SHADR, but ultimately still humans. The arm was gone forever.

Hmm. Maybe instead of constructing a Lilac Mark IV, she could try to make a replacement arm for Kaveri! But instead of just any old boring prosthetic arm, she's load it with improved musculature. And add in shield generator. And rocket launchers. And an integrated machine gun. Maybe even a laser blade projector!

Nepgear started when Kaveri snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Hey, kid, you still with me?"

"I... uh... yes. I think. I was just thinking of different applications for possible SHADR/Processor hybrids that I could construct and maybe implement with enough testing though I don't know if we could get a control group together for—"

"Nepgear?" Kaveri cut in. Gah. She was doing it again. "I don't know how CPU's tick, but if I were to guess, you're exhausted and you're getting loopy."

Ooh. That was embarrassing. "Um, maybe just a little? The tea was keeping me awake though, which is delicious by the way, so much that I'd like to try to import—"

She stopped when she noticed Kaveri looking at her, eyebrow cocked.

"Um... I'll take the couch, thanks."

* * *

Ruby sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.

Man, she'd had the weirdest dream last night. Started out with an attack by some weird clones things and Kaveri getting badly hurt. Then it moved on to her building some crazy scythe looking thing. Axion Rose? Yeah, she'd named it Axoim Rose for some reason. And then there was flying, and fighting someone named Trinity, and meeting peopled named Nepgear, Uni, and Peashy

She hopped out of bed. Hah. When she had real crazy dreams she usually woke up tired. Not today, though. Felt great! Probably the best morning she'd ever felt, actually.

She tapped at her palmtop, on her dresser. Seven sharp. Wow. She never woke up before eight. Maybe she should get back to bed.

Nah. Not tired at all for some reason. Oh well. That meant she had an extra hour to do stuff.

Stretching, she opened her door.

And almost ran face first into a purple-haired girl she'd never met before.

They just kind of stared at each other for a few seconds.

" _Yah_! Who are you!?" she yelped.

" _Gah_! Sorry! Was just looking for the bathroom!"

They both squawked when the door across the hallway shot open.

"Ruby! What's going on!?" Kaveri yelled.

She was going to say how this stranger had somehow wandered into their house when she looked at her sister... and noticed the arm.

* * *

It hadn't been a dream. Kaveri really had been terribly hurt, and she was now the GPU of Emdi.

Why couldn't be it a dream?

She poked at her pancakes. Even though they were chocolate chip and topped with strawberries—her favorite—she just didn't feel hungry. She _should_ be eating them. Kaveri wasn't the bestest of cooks, but it meant a lot when her sister took the time to cook.

Even if Nepgear had done a lot of the cooking.

"They're good, I hope," the Planeptune CPU said to her. "I might've put too much milk into the batter and too little sugar. And some of the first ones might've been burned a little. And—"

"It's not that," she cut in. "The pancakes are tasty, really. I'm just not hungry for some reason."

She just really wasn't. Normally she'd eat at least two servings of strawberry pancakes just because she was nuts for those, but this morning she just didn't feel like eating. On top of that, she didn't know what to _do._ What did a GPU do, anyway? Those whisperings she'd half-heard last night were gone. She wasn't getting a cheat sheet or anything, today. Yet, she could still see—well, not quite _see_ , really. Maybe felt?—the streams and currents of Share energy, even in the dining room. They just weren't saying anything.

Hey, wait a second.

"Nepgear?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you, er, see anything weird in the dining room?"

The CPU looked confused. "No? Not really?"

"Weird?" she heard Kaveri say at the same time.

Oh, gosh, she was seeing things only she could see. Kaveri sometimes joked that that was a sign of being crazy. "Um... never mind."

"Wait a second," Uni said. "Define weird."

"Uh..." she said. How did you describe this kind of stuff? "It's like all around the room, I guess." She made gestures with her hands. Great. That explained _everything._

Nepgear, Uni, and Kaveri looked completely confused. Embarrassing. Maybe she was going a little crazy, and she really wasn't a GPU.

"Waaaaait," she heard Peashy say after swallowing a mouthful of pancake. "Are you talking about the Share energy currents?"

Oh, good, she wasn't crazy. She nodded.

"Oh," her sister said, scratching her head. "I should've thought about that. After the first year you kind of stop noticing it. Didn't even consider it."

"Oh," she said, blinking. "Really? Having a hard time ignoring these."

"It's kind of like, I don't know, getting a new TV," said Nepgear. "Like one of the new Planeptune HGS-2000 holoprojector models that just released. At first you're all 'wowee! This thing has motion controls and contextual touch menus! And the refresh rate is great! And there's no photon bleed! And—' "

She kind of zoned out after that. Nepgear was saying words, but her brain couldn't make sense of them.

She leaned over to Uni, who was next to her. "Does Nepgear do this a lot?"

Uni tipped her head closer. "Yup," the CPU whispered. "You get used to it eventually."

"—And then after getting over the great saturation and refresh rate, it eventually just becomes another piece of furniture," Nepgear finished.

She looked around the table. Peashy had gone cross-eyed and her sister was staring off into the distance. Uni looked like she'd endured this before. And Nepgear... well, Nepgear's eyes were twinkling. Like, literally twinkling, as in she could almost see stars in the Planeptune girl's eyes.

She scratched her head. At least she was getting her questions answered, even if this whole morning was turning out to be surreal. Maybe she could ask about what had happened last night.

"Do the currents ever, uh, say things?"

"Yes," said Nepgear.

"No," her sister said at the same time.

Nepgear and Kaveri looked at each other, blinking.

"They don't?" Nepgear asked.

"They do? her sister asked.

Again Kaveri and Nepgear kind of just looked at each other for a few moments.

Her sister cocked her head. "You know, I'm probably just not on the same page. I'm just an IGPU, and what I can get from the Share currents is lot more limited. You three have... have more in common with Ruby than I do."

After Kaveri said that last part, her sister pressed her lips together tight. The three CPUs didn't seem to notice it, but she did. She had a guess that there was a lot on Kaveri's mind when her sister just picked at her breakfast, but this told Ruby that whatever it was, it was serious... and Kaveri was trying to do the tough girl show. They really needed to talk when they caught their breath.

"I guess so," she heard Nepgear say with a shrug. "To be honest, though, we don't usually, um, listen, at least in our human forms. Well, that's just for myself." Nepgear looked pointedly at Uni.

The Lastation girl shrugged. "Nope, not listening either. I like Neptune and all, but I think your sister does a little _too_ much tuning in, if you know what I mean."

She had no idea what Uni meant, but Nepgear apparently did. "Yeah, my sister does go a little too random sometimes. She'll start talking about budgets and sequels and tropes."

What were tropes? "And in your goddess forms?" she asked.

"Our goddess aspects are fueled by Share energy, same as the GPUs, I guess," answered Nepgear. "So when we take in all that energy, the currents get louder."

"But that being said," Uni said, "just like noticing the Share currents in human form, you get used to it in HDD, too." Uni stopped talking for a few seconds. "You know, what did it sound like for you when you went HDD. Or CORE, I guess is the term."

Okay, how exactly did you describe what it was like to be running around in a dream? To be doing things without knowing why, and to tell your body to move only to have it move for you? When—

Something flashed in her mind.

Wasn't visual, it wasn't a sound, not a taste, or a touch, or a smell. It was just something she felt. Kaveri, Nepgear, Uni, Peashy, even the dining room, kind of faded from view. Well, not really. It wasn't like they disappeared. It just she was so focused on...

On something the Shares were saying to her.

Ugh. Couldn't this have waited another day?

She stood up from the table.

* * *

Kaveri was waiting for her sister to answer when Ruby abruptly got to her feet.

"Ruby?" she said.

"Sorry, Kaveri, I have to go," Ruby said. Her kid sister turned to look at her.

Oh, hell.

Ruby's pupils had been replaced with those red glowing power symbols.

First impulse was to get Ruby in a one-armed bearhug and tell her no, she wasn't going anywhere. Second reaction was the realization that she couldn't stop a GPU if she wanted to, especially not as gimped as she was. Last night had proven that.

She hated this—hated it, _hated it—_ that she couldn't shield her sister anymore. It was how it had always been, and poof, in one day and one night, it had all gone up in flames.

"Where're you heading?" she heard herself say.

"Northeast," Ruby answered. Her sister was looking at her with those inhuman eyes, not past her or through her, that much she could be thankful for. Ruby wasn't a complete passenger in this wild ride. "Iris is coming and I have to meet her."

She frowned at that name. Iris.

She shook her head. "Get going. I'll contact Kabini and make sure she knows."

Ruby nodded. "Thanks, sis."

Her heart skipped a beat.

But then her little sister was gone in an explosion of glowing rose petals.

With a sigh she pulled her palmtop from her pocket—a left-handed model, thankfully, so her amputation-by-clone hadn't screwed her on that front—and sent a connection request to Kabini. She set the glove on the table since putting it on one-handed was a chore.

"Who're Iris and Kabini?" she heard Nepgear ask. "I'm guessing they're GP—Ooh, wowee. That's cool!"

The wowee was because Kabini's holographic image had appeared a few inches above her palmtop. That CPU sure liked tech, didn't she?

"Hey, Kaveri," the other IGPU said to her. "I got your message from last night. I'm helping with SAR right now at the coastline, but I'll be free in about half an hour. What'd you want to talk about?"

"My sister's the GPU."

Kabini froze. "Say that again."

"Radeon's mantle, it went to Ruby. She's the new GPU."

"Where is she now?" Kabini asked sharply.

"She's heading north. Iris is coming down and Ruby's going to meet her."

" _What?_ Hold on." Kabini's image and audio cut out.

She looked at her guests who, were all just kind of staring at where Kabini's head been a moment before. Heh. Chances were Nepear would want to buy a palmtop before all this was over. Helping the economy, yay.

"That was...?" Uni asked.

"Kabini. Another Emdi IGPU and a friend of mine."

No sooner had she finished telling the girls what a Kabini was when the other IGPU reconnected.

"Well, your sister's onto something. Radar just picked up something coming in hot from the north at mach 2. Small cross-section, so it's a GPU or an IGPU."

Well, speaking of the Share currents telling people stuff...

"Listen, Kabini," she told her friend. "Could you meet up with Ruby? I don't know Iris other than she's been an IGPU for longer than I have, and I'm grounded for now."

Kabini paused to digest that, especially the last part. An IGPU losing her mojo was kind of a big deal. "I'm getting ready to leave. I'll be there in about ten minutes." Pause. "Anything else I should know about before I get there?"

Well, that was a loaded question, though she couldn't blame Kabini for asking it. She looked over at the CPUs, who were looking back at her, wide-eyed. She turned back to Kabini. "Just... ask first, shoot later."

She saw Kabini frown at that. "All right, I guess, even if that was a little too cryptic for my tastes. I'll keep you posted. See you around."

"Take care," she replied, and cut the call. She looked up as she heard chairs scrape on the floor. The CPUs had all stood up, and, in a flash of light, they'd gone into their HDD forms.

"She's a lot less trigger-happy than that Trinity chick, I hope," Uni said.

"Infinitely." She turned to Nepgear. "And to answer your question, Iris is an IGPU affiliated with a different nation. She's from Entel, in the east."

"Ah," Nepgear said to her. The CPU cocked her head. "Well, like Uni asked about Kabini, anything we should be worried about?"

Well, that was a question. "I don't have much. I've never met her personally, and GPUs and IGPUs of rival nations tend to keep to themselves, so I don't think Kabini or Llano could give you guys anything, either." Oh, wait a second. She _did_ know something interesting that was passed through the guild rumor mills. "That being said, from what I've heard she's capable of CORE."

"Huh?" Uni exclaimed. "I thought the CORE thing was only for GPUs?"

She shrugged. "Don't ask me. By definition, an IGPU is someone who _can_ ' _t_ tap into Share energy deeply enough to achieve CORE. I guess Iris just didn't get the memo."

"But wouldn't that, you know, make her a GPU?" the Lastation CPU asked.

She shook her head. "I'm just speculating, but my guess that, even though she can hit CORE, she can't do other things GPUs can normally do, like reading Share currents while in human form." She shrugged again. "But yeah, that's all I know. I don't know her GRAFX, I don't know what her SHADR and CORE armor can do, and I have no clue about her Semblance."

"Semblance?" Nepgear said, looking puzzled.

Oh, she hadn't gone into that last night, had she?

"Semblance Protocol," she said. "It's a unique ability of an IGPU or GPU, usually tied to their SHADR or CORE armor. Pretty sure you saw one when you mixed it up with Trinity."

"Oh," Uni said, frowning. "The invisibility thing? That was annoying as heck."

She nodded. "Yeah, that. Her's is called Tricolor Haze."

"What about your sister?" Nepgear asked. "She was teleporting around."

Oh yeah. That. "I'm assuming that's hers. No way to be sure until I ask her, though."

"Oh, okay. Good to know," Nepgear told her. She saw the Planeptune CPU scratch her head. "You know Kaveri, what's yours?"

She cocked an eyebrow, surprised.

She saw the girl wince. "Uh I-I mean if it's okay to ask you is all." Nepgear started doing her finger-tapping tic again. Looked weird when a kitted out CPU was doing it, though.

She snorted. "Hey, kid, relax," she said, smiling. "I ain't going to bite your head off. I was just surprised, is all."

She watched the white CPU visibly relax. It was borderline precious, really. "Mine's called Rage Siphon. It—" She stopped. Her Semblance was like... a tree branch in the wind. Wind kept blowing, pushing the branch farther and farther back. And then, suddenly, that branch swung back with a vengeance and smacked you silly.

And sometimes the branch broke.

And sometimes it could hurt someone who was standing underneath it.

Her stump twinged a bit. Coincidence? Psychosomatic reaction?

She wasn't doing anyone any favors by wigging out over what had happened, least of all herself. She had to get over herself. Ruby might be a GPU, but that girl was still her little sister. She couldn't afford to have her daily freak outs and anxiety attacks.

She cleared her throat. "It lets my personal defensive shields absorb energy. Kinetic, laser, plasma, you name it. Then I can use that energy to boost my strength and Maxim Scarlet's blasts. Basically, the harder you hit me, the harder I'll hit back. It's not foolproof, though," she finished, making a gesture to her right arm."

"That's actually kinda cool," Peashy said. To the blonde's credit, the CPU actually did look impressed.

"Thanks for the info, then, Kaveri," Nepgear said with a nod. "We'll head out now and see if it'll help our investigation any. We'll try to keep out of the way." The Planeptune CPU smiled slightly. "But we'll make sure your sister's okay."

"Thanks for that." She meant it.

The three CPUs turned to leave. Out the front door.

Uh.

"Girls?" she called.

The three turned back to look at her.

"Maybe drop the techno goddess duds until you're in a little more remote part of the island. You said you wanted to keep this whole thing on the down low, right?"

Nepgear scratched. "Yeeeah. Good point."

* * *

"At this point, I regret not eating more," Nepgear heard Uni mutter.

She snuck a glance at her friend. Uni had eaten a fair amount of the pancakes. Yes, not as much as Peashy, but Peashy was a bottomless pit for anything sweet. She wondered where Peashy—or Uni, considering how skinny she was—put it all.

The three of them were jogging along one of the coastal roads, heading northwest. Kaveri had told them about a relatively isolated cove about two and a half miles from the house where they could activate HDD all sneaky like.

At the pace they were going, it shouldn't take long. They could go faster, sure, but the occasional joggers they were passing were already giving them weird looks. Like, a comfortable jogging pace for her was faster than most people ran, and between her, Uni, and Peashy, she was the slowest. If they broke out in an actual sprint, people would probably be on their smartphones—or glovephones?—in a jiffy when they saw three girls running faster than city traffic.

Her stomach rumbled a bit. Aw. She really should've gotten a few more pancakes.

"I think I see it," she heard Uni call. "About a hundred yards more, then we can hop the guardrail."

As they got closer the ground on the other side of the guardrail fell away in a steep incline to the beach below. It looked a little over twenty feet to the sand, which would be tough to climb. Hmm. No one in front of them. She twisted her head to look back. Nope, no one following either. Better yet, a few hundred feet forward the trees started to get thicker.

Okay, decision time, because she was the leader.

"When we get to that copse of trees up ahead," she said, "jump over the side. Transform before we hit the ground, and we head out low over the water towards Ruby."

"Sounds like a plan," Uni said to her.

"What's a copse?" asked Peashy.

"A bunch of trees," she heard Uni explain.

"Then why not just call it a bunch of trees?"

She was going to answer Peashy, badly, since who know why it was called a copse, but they had already closed the distance to their jumping point. It would've been cool if she could have been first, since she was the leader, but Uni was the one in front. Bummer.

She followed her friend over the guardrail and started reaching out to the Share energy around her. Almost... almost... got it! She made the connection and felt the warm energy of the Share currents flood into her.

Her vision went white for a second—if anyone was watching they'd notice she was glowing—and she felt herself becoming stronger, faster. She felt her external Processor units and armor connecting to her nervous system—tingly!—as her vision faded back to normal. Well, not quite normal. Colors were more vibrant, and she could see distant things much clearly than a second ago.

Like the sand of the beach below that was coming really, really fast at her face. Augmented reality overlays from the Processor unit linked to her brain told her she had about a half a second before she splatted, which wouldn't be nice at all. Well, a twenty foot fall wouldn't even tickle her, but still. The hero couldn't land on her face.

Shouldn't be problem, though. She flooded her flight systems with Share energy, and she pulled up and away from the sand with only a foot to spare. Oof. Those were some G-forces.

She headed out over the water a few feet above the waves—she even did an aileron roll because it would look cool—and looked behind her. Good, Peashy and Uni were right behind her.

Now, time to see if they could catch up to Ruby and that Iris person.

It was a little less weird this time, but only slightly. It still almost felt like Ruby was telling her body to move, instead of just moving it directly, but at the same time it didn't have that dreamy feeling from last night. She felt a little more... in control? Less out of control? Something like that.

She fed more energy into her CORE armor—at least, that's what she thought she was doing—and pulsed her sensors out to the north. Oh. Contact.

She saw information scrolling across her vision. It was called something. Oh, enhanced reality. Altitude, vector, velocity, estimated mass, and more. She processed the information—or didn't—and adjusted her own flight.

She was worried. Very worried. Other than telling her that she was going to be running into Iris, a senior IGPU of Entel who was also the only known IGPU able to achieve CORE, the Share currents weren't saying anything else. They were being as quiet as Kaveri after her sister came home after a hard mission and flopped into bed. Quieter, even, since Kaveri snored.

She swallowed. Throat was dry. Ick. Were GPUs supposed to feel nervous? Scared? What had Radeon felt right before she... you know.

The Share currents weren't answering that, either.

Ugh.

She saw something in the distance. Iris? She pinged with her sensors again. Yes, same signature from before.

She amplified her visual sensors and took a look at the IGPU. First thing she noticed was Iris' long, pure white hair. Reminded her of Uni's hair in HDD form, except the IGPU's hair was long and flowing, not bunched up into those weird spiral pigtail things. Iris's armor—SHADR or CORE, she had no idea—was white and blue. Reminded her of pictures of glaciers.

And, before she knew it, the Entel IGPU was only a hundred yards away. She felt her armor's flight controls brake—had she made it do that? Hmm. Had to have had—and she came to a stop about twenty feet from Iris.

The IGPU looked young. Like, really young. Iris didn't look any older than she herself did. Of course, it didn't mean much, especially when you considered her sister was twenty-three but looked about seventeen. The other girl's eyes were blue, but not a nice, warm blue. Those eyes were pale, icy blue, just like the owner's armor, just like an iceberg. Overlaid over those eyes were white power symbols, the mark of an IGPU.

What really stood out, though, was the scar that ran from above Iris' right eye and crossed over her face to her left cheek.

Talk about a first impressions. She suddenly felt underwhelming.

"Good morning, Iris," she heard herself say. What? She hadn't meant to say that. Or... had she? "What brings you to Emdi?"

That had been polite, hadn't it? Would probably be a bad thing to be rude to someone with that kind of power.

Iris didn't say anything. Actually, the IGPU's eyes had narrowed as Iris stared at her. That couldn't be good, right?

"I don't know you," she heard Iris say.

She felt herself start to answer, but Iris cut her off. "Where's Radeon? I want to speak with your GPU. _Now_."

"Sorry," she heard herself say. "That's impossible."

"Why?"

"She was killed three days ago."

Iris just stared at her for a few moments.

"Who are you?" the IGPU asked her.

"My name's Ruby," she answered. "I'm... I'm the GPU of Emdi.

She saw Iris' lips press together into a thin line. "So you say." Iris stopped, eyes closed as if the IGPU was thinking about something. "So, Ruby, do you know why I'm here."

Would the Share currents give an answer? No? No. Nothing. She could only guess, but something told her admitting that to Iris would go across badly.

"On the day you claimed your GPU fell, Vida was attacked." Iris' eyes opened and locked with her. "The one thing we were able to glean before the communications lockout hit was that two GPUs, Geforce and Tesla, were killed."

She gasped. It hadn't even crossed her mind that what had happened to Emdi could have happened to other nations. Gosh. Had there been major damage there like—

Yow. Share energy blared in her head just as she noticed Iris make a gesture with an arm. Iris' armor seemed to shimmer as it... shifted and flowed into something more ornate and powerful. Hmm. The icicle-like armor she'd seen before had had to have been SHADR, which meant this was CORE armor.

CORE armor.

Oh.

Oh no.

More Share energy glimmered, and the IGPU seemed to draw a pale blue, mechanized longsword out from thin air. Iris locked eyes with her, and she noticed that the power symbols weren't just overlays anymore. They had replaced Iris' pupils.

"You claim to be this nation's GPU. _I_ think Radeon is trying to make herself scarce after her attack on Vida and you're trying to hide the perpetrator of an act of war."

"No! I—"

"I've never heard of a GPU's mantle passing on this quickly," Iris cut her off. "If Radeon really is dead, and you really are Emdi's new GPU... _then_ _prove it_."

And then Iris tried to kill her.


	7. Chapter 5

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By** **Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

Without thinking Ruby summoned Axiom Rose to her just ahead of Iris' thrust. She barely managed to deflect the blow away, but Iris had already used the momentum of her parry to aim a chop at her head. Not enough time. Had to... move!

She felt herself gather Share power to herself, and her vision flashed red for a fraction of a second. It faded back to normal, and she found herself twenty feet past the Entel IGPU. Again, without really realizing, her weapon reconfigured into its cannon form and she felt herself drawing it up to fire into Iris' back.

Too late. The IGPU had already whirled in the air to face her, sword raised in a defensive position.

Fast. Really fast. Her shields would've taken a bad blow if she hadn't used her Semblance, Red Shift, to teleport out of the path of Iris' sword. She'd used it last night when fighting with Trinity, and hadn't really understood it. Now, it was making more sense. She could instantly shift herself to any point thirty feet from her current position, and she could perform her individual shifts as rapidly as she wanted.

Until the strain of repeated jumps was enough that she couldn't anymore.

Options? Um. She could fire her cannon and resposition, and try to keep Iris from closing the distance. Risky. How long could she keep that up? She didn't know her limits yet. Convert Axiom back to its scythe form and just... what? Fight Iris? Iris seemed to know how to handle that sword, plus the IGPU wasn't tired and hurt like Trinity had been last night.

Plus, Iris had access to CORE.

She gulped as the Entel IGPU started floating towards her.

She felt herself tense.

And then jumped a little as a sound like ripping cloth split the air. She wasn't the only one, though, since Iris also jerked back from... was that a whizzing sound?

Gah. No warning from the Share currents about that, either. Blinking, she turned to look where the noise had come from.

Oh. Above and a little to the left floated a girl in white and black SHADR, splashed with red. The second thing she noticed was that one of the IGPU's headpieces were antennae that looked suspiciously like cat ears. The first thing she noticed was the girl lowering two submachine guns.

"It's been a while, Iris," she heard Kabini say.

* * *

Nepgear's eyes widened when she picked up the sound of gunfire on her Processor's audio sensors.

"That can't be good," she heard Uni mutter.

The three of the them were flying at minimal power only a few feet above the waves, at a relatively slow five hundred miles per hour. Hopefully this combination would keep them camouflaged from the radar, Doppler, and Share energy sensors of any other GPUs and IGPUs that might be hanging around Ruby.

Of course, with her luck, they had probably detected her.

Aw, darn.

The hard part about being in low power mode like this was that her sensors were restricted to passive functionality. She couldn't scan ahead, she could only listen. Luckily, Black Sister had excellent sensors, passive or otherwise, but it still made her antsy.

"Think I've got visual," she heard Uni say. "Estimating about... two and a half miles out. I have Ruby and two others."

Most likely Kabini and that Iris person.

"Okay, let's stop here," she said—ordered?—as she reduced power to her flight units. No reason to get closer if Uni had sight of them. "What're they doing right now?"

"Just floating there. They all have weapons out, but it looks like they're just talking. Iris looks like she wants to punch something."

"Can you get audio too?"

"I think so. One sec." Uni went quiet for a moment. Black Sister's eyes narrowed, like she was concentrating, and her Generation head unit antennae wiggled around a bit. "Okay, got audio via directional mics. Rebroadcast?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Video too, if you can."

"Easy peasy. Going live."

Uni's Processor unit sent a link request, which she accepted. A second later a small window, about the size of a piece of printer paper, appeared in the air a little off to her right. There wasn't _really_ a floating video there, though. It was just an augmented reality overlay that was being piped to her Lilac head unit via Uni's Processor.

The screen showed Ruby and two others, all armored up in their goddess aspects. The one in white and black she recognized from the call over Kaveri's—super awesome!—palmtop. The white haired one in jagged, icicle-like armor had to be Iris.

"—Can't possibly be the GPU," she heard Iris snarl. "The fastest transference on record is ten days, and that was over two centuries ago."

"Look at her _eyes_ ," Kabini hissed back. "Those are the eyes of a GPU!"

"Then we're at an impasse, with these two contradictions," she heard Iris growl. She watched the white-haired IGPU turn to look at Ruby. "You. Follow me to Entel. Ivy and Sandy will examine your Share signature as well, away from your island and its IGPUs. If they override me and decide that you are, in fact, an IGPU, you will be released so we can form a plan of action."

No one said anything after that. Well, until Kabini's jaw dropped open.

"Are you _insane_? We were just attacked! More than ever we need our GPU _here_."

She watched Iris bare her teeth. Not good. "If you want insanity, then consider the fact that two GPUs from Vida—fully half of that nation's GPU count—were killed. She _will_ be coming back to Entel with me."

"Uh... this is going to suck, isn't it?" she heard Peashy whisper.

She was going to tell Peashy that maybe, just maybe, one of them could defuse the situation, but Kabini had raised two submachine guns, training them on Iris' head.

"You've worn out your welcome, Iris. Get out of our airspace."

Through the video feed, she saw Iris' fingers—still wrapped around that longsword—twitch ever so slightly.

She held her breath. What could they do? She owed Ruby, big time, for saving them from Trinity last night, much less putting them up for the night. On the other hand, to intervene would just turn things from bad to horrible. What could Neptune do. She—

"Wait, Iris," she heard Ruby say. "A suggestion?"

Iris stared at the GPU.

"Come check out the western coast of the island. It's been devastated. I've been telling the truth."

Here eyes widened. Yeah! That should work just fine. Hopefully evidence of the attack would convince Iris not to drag Ruby back to Entel, wherever that was.

She saw Iris' shoulder relax a little. "Very well. I'll survey the area. If it's as you say I'll—"

The IGPU's words cut out as the audio dropped.

Blinking, she looked at Uni. Black Sister wrinkled her nose, looking annoyed.

"Sorry. I modulated the voltage wrong there for a second. Stupid mistake. I'll do a soft reset and get my sensors corrected again."

"Okay," she said.

Wait.

When you did a power cycle, even for a reset, your power spiked high for a few milliseconds before settling down again. If Uni reset the brief jump in Share energy might alert the IGPUs!

"Uni, hold on! Don't—"

The screen she'd been looking at flickered out for a second before snapping back on.

Which means she got to see both Iris and Kabini looking straight at her, which meant straight at Uni.

Uh oh.

"What was _that_?" she heard Iris hiss. The Entel IGPU disappeared from the screen. Blinking, she looked away from the relay and focused on her own sensors, still operating in passive mode. That was when she saw Iris heading straight at the three of them. Her Processor clocked the IGPU's speed at just over mach 2.

"Yeeeeah, really going to suck," she heard Peashy say with a groan.

* * *

Huh?

Blinking, Ruby focused to the south, where her CORE armor had just detected a faint Share energy spike. What could—

"What was _that_?" she heard Iris growl. "That was _Share_ energy." The Entel IGPU turned back to her and Kabini. "I wasn't expecting more company."

"Wasn't anyone I called in," she heard Kabini say. She took a look at her sister's friend. Kabini looked wary. At least it was better than Iris, who just looked angry.

With an irritated sound, Iris bolted towards the energy spike.

What—or who, probably—could have generated that Share crest? Kaveri probably couldn't, since she was injured and was still at home with—

Oh.

Without really thinking about it, she felt her Share power flow through her CORE armor, amplifying her sensors and piping the information to her brain. She focused her visual receptors in the direction of the energy signature and caught sight of Nepgear, Uni, and Peashy. Had they followed her out here to keep watch on her?

"The hell..." she heard Kabini mutter after a second. "I don't recognize their faces, their armor, or their colors. What is this, encroach on Emdi day?"

Before she could say anything—heck, _come up_ with anything—Kabini had also taken off in the direction of the three CPUs. She noticed Kabini still had her weapons drawn.

This could be bad. Very bad. Iris didn't seem to be in a reasonable mood right now, and she didn't know Kabini well enough to know how the IGPU would react. The Share currents weren't giving an answer there.

Swallowing, she felt herself feed energy to her teleport generators.

* * *

"Uh... she looks kinda angry," Nepgear heard Uni say to her.

That was... mostly accurate. Iris looked angry, yes, but mostly the IGPU looked really, really annoyed. Iris was close enough now that she could clearly see the white-armored girl's face.

"So, uh, what's the plan," Uni asked.

Oh. Wow. They were asked her for a plan. Leadership!

Okay, okay, think. The three of them weren't here to start an international incident. This was supposed to just be reconnaissance, which, granted, was now booted out the window because they'd let themselves be detected.

They could try to make a break for it. Hmm. No, wouldn't work. Peashy and Uni might be fast enough, but she had a guess that Iris was _fast_. Faster than she was, at any rate. And if she got caught, Peashy and Uni would loop back to help her, and it would be all downhill from there. Plus, fleeing was just a _little_ bit suspicious.

Fighting, of course, was the exact opposite of what they were shooting for.

Looked like she was going to have to talk their way out of this. That, assumed, of course, Iris would like to talk. Peashy was right. The IGPU _did_ look very angry.

She opened up a tightbeam link directly to Yellow Heart's and Black Sister's communications receivers.

"Don't summon your weapons," she whispered. Well, almost-whispered. Her mic—specifically, the pickup built into the armored collar that protected her throat—was sensitive to the most minor vibrations in her vocal cords. She barely had to open her lips for her to transmit clear audio signals. It was almost like ventriloquism, which, you know, could be a neat skill to pick up if she ever got Project Nepgeardam off the ground. The only thing cooler than a teleoperated death machine was a _talking_ teleoperated death machine.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Uni glance at her, eyebrow raised.

"Just be ready to call them out if things get bad. I'm going to try to talk our way out of this."

"Better you than me," she heard her friend mutter.

She was going to fire something back at Uni—something clever!—when white flashed in front of her. She had a split second to stare up at the glaring Iris before the shockwave from the IGPU breaching the sound barrier hit.

She waited for Iris to say something first, since the other girl seemed like the sort to want answers, but the IGPU said nothing, just stared.

 _Staaare._

Okay.

"Er... hello," she said. Lamely. Ugh. "My name is Nepgear, and I'm—"

"A CPU from Gamindustri," Iris cut in irritably. "I know about your continent. Why have you intruded on Graphicard?"

Uh. Okay.

"We're investigating the attacks on Emdi and Vida," she said, thankfully remembering the name of the other nations and totally ignoring the fact that Iris knew about Gamindustri. "A friend of ours was also—"

"Which is irrelevant, since I'm still investigating the supposed attacks myself." Iris' eyes narrowed. "Although, the presence of foreign powers in Emdi territory makes me suspicious."

Hmm. She hadn't thought of that angle. It _did_ look suspicious when you considered some GPUs from a rival nation had been killed. If things were like Gamindustri, where the four nations—and their CPUs—were roughly equal in power, it would take something significant to tip that balance.

Like three goddesses from a foreign continent.

Oh, drat.

"Since you were most likely eavesdropping on our conversation, I'll let you know I've changed my mind. Ruby won't be coming back with me to Entel."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

" _You_ three will be."

Oh.

That... that wasn't good.

"I will feed you the coordinates. You will go to those coordinates at a speed of mach one. You will keep your shields and weapons powered down. I will be following you closely. Once we reach land, you will immediately power down out of your goddess aspects. You will be placed in full lockdown until we get to the bottom of this.

First impulse was to agree. Iris wasn't wrong, really, about how suspicious this all was. It would also get Ruby off the hook, at least for now. Yet, no, she couldn't. Iris had said full lockdown, which probably meant communications blackout too, right? If she didn't get in touch with sis, and Neptune's own communication links didn't connect, there was a pretty big chance that Neptune—and probably Noire, maybe Plutia—would come out east in full combat gear demanding answers.

On one hand, that wouldn't be terrible. It would force Gamindustri to open up diplomatic channels with Graphicard. The thing was, it would be a _really_ bad time to do that. If Neptune came charging came charging across the ocean with Noire—which was probably going to happen, since her and Uni's big sisters were really protective of them, even if the two CPUs didn't admit it—it meant at least Planeptune and Lastation would be lightly defended. Judging by what happened to Plutia's Green Heart and the GPUs over in Vida, that could open up the opportunity for something terrible to happen.

She took a deep breath. This was going to out of character for her.

"You'll have to forgive us," she said slowly, looking at the Entel IGPU right in the eyes, "but we can't agree to those terms as is."

"I wasn't asking you to _agree_ with anything," she heard the IGPU retort. "Now _do as I say_ , or I'll knock all three of you unconscious and fly you back to Entel myself, so help me."

She gulped, trying to make sure it wasn't too conspicuous. If what she had said last time had been a bit out of character for her, this next was going to have all dozen fans she had writing angry emails.

"We _cannot do that_ ," she said firmly. "If we need to open up official channels with Graphicard's nations, we'll do so. However, our investigation is vital to the security of our lands and we can't afford to be detained. I'm sorry."

Iris stared blankly at her.

"Whoa, that's new," she heard Uni mutter from behind her.

"Who are you, and what did you do with the real Nepgear?" Peashy asked, not nearly so quietly.

She sighed inwardly. Finally some character development, and this is the reaction she got. From friends, too!

She was jerked out of her thoughts—brooding?—when she saw Iris moving. The IGPU was squaring up, and she recognized the subtle way in which Iris has shifted her grip on that mechanized longsword. Iris was prepping for a fight.

"Last chance. Stand. Down. _Now._ "

Ooh. She almost wanted to tell Iris she wanted a do-over. But, no, she couldn't do that. Her reasoning for refusing in the first place was spot on. She couldn't get the three of them locked up and risk attacks on Gamindustri cities.

Besides, protagonists had to live with their decisions, for better or for worse. If she hoped to become even a fraction as cool as Neptune she couldn't be wishy-washy.

She took a deep breath.

"No."

* * *

No sooner had Nepgear finished uttering her refusal that Iris struck.

Even prepared for a fight, Iris' blade would have dealt a nasty blow to Nepgear's head had Peashy not anticipated the attack. Slipping forward, Yellow Heart swept up a claw and deflected the strike away from Purple Sister.

Yellow Heart was incredibly fast, rivaling the blinding speed of Purple Heart and Green Heart. It belied her stocky build, and more than one opponent of hers had hesitated when confronted with that swiftness.

More often than not, that moment of shock was enough for Peashy to secure an advantage.

But not this time.

Iris reacted instantly to the parry, rotating her GRAFX so as not to present the CPUs with an opening. In that split second she evaluated the situation and decided on a plan of attack. With three-to-one odds, Iris surmised that the moment she was surrounded the fight would be decided. The triangle that would inevitably entrap her had to be broken. Iris slid past Peashy and slashed at Black Sister, who had just barely materialized her pulse cannon.

At least, she tried to.

It oftentimes went unnoticed—and unappreciated—because of Nepgear's self-effacing nature, but Planeptune's CPU Candidate possessed a very sharp, observant mind, even when compared to the calm and collected Purple Heart. Neptune's human form was, of course, a foregone conclusion.

During their scuffle with Trinity, she had quickly grasped that a swift opponent would attempt to engage Black Sister at close range and eliminate her, Uni's nature as a ranged specialist simultaneously making her a dangerous threat and a vulnerable target. Iris was fast enough that, given an opening, she could strike at Uni before Peashy could follow to intercept.

She was not as fast as her friends or the IGPU that faced them, but a quick mind could more than make up for that. Even as Peashy whirled to swipe at the passing Iris, Nepgear had already interposed herself between Uni and the IGPU. Energized blade clashed against mechanized longsword, and Iris was forced back as Nepgear's surprising strength overwhelmed her own.

Knowing a losing battle, Iris immediately reversed her thrusters and opened up distance between the CPUs. The IGPU's GRAFX morphed in her hands, and Iris' Killswitch transitioned from its longsword configuration into its sniper rifle form. It fired charges of solidified, high-velocity Share energy, and while the raw power was somewhat less than that of Black Sister's pulse cannon, the high density bullets had a penchant for shattering Share-based shielding.

Nepgear and Peashy immediately advanced as the IGPU withdrew, but no sooner had they made forward progress when slugs slammed into their torsos. Their defensive fields buckled under the impact, forcing them to take evasive action. A third bullet sailed towards Black Sister, perfectly centered on her sternum. Uni's light Share shields couldn't hope to completely halt the projectile's progress, and Generation's light physical armoring would stop even less.

Of course, no matter how powerful the slug was, it meant nothing if it hit nothing. Uni twisted in the air with inches to spare, and the charge from Killswitch barely grazed across Uni's chest shielding as it passed.

In the same motion, Black Sister brought her pulse cannon to bear and responded in kind.

There was some merit to Iris' plan. A brawl against Yellow Heart and Purple Sister would have her at a disadvantage, so the only alternative open to her was to engage the CPUs from range. Peashy was utterly devoid of offensive capabilities beyond the reach of her claws, and Nepgear's beam rifle, though it could output a great volume of laser fire, did not have nearly the reach or accuracy of Killswitch.

However, Iris soon discovered that engaging Black Sister in a ranged duel wasn't much of an improvement.

More so than any of her peers in Gamindustri—or even any of her counterparts in Graphicard—Uni was finely tuned for a battle at a distance.

Part of it was explained by the singular specialization in Black Sister's Generation Processor unit. Very light and possessing powerful burst thrusters, it allowed Uni to quickly reposition in a firefight, which was imperative given her utter lack of close range defensive measures. The head units tied to her nervous system bore an advanced sensor suite and potent computing power, allowing her to see farther—and think faster—than anything that might be shooting back.

More than anything, however, was Uni herself. Nepgear's musing that Uni could see bullets midflight—even without the aid of a Processor—hadn't been much of an exaggeration. That natural quickness coupled with a knack for hitting things she aimed at made her a deadly opponent in the game Iris wanted to play. Granted, there was a stark difference between the relatively sluggish monsters that roamed the countryside of Gamindustri and an IGPU in high tech powered armor.

But there was also a massive difference between Uni with a relatively simple rifle and Black Sister who had opened herself to the Share currents, was enhanced by her Generation Processor, and wielded a pulse cannon that fired blasts at velocities several orders of magnitude faster than any gunpowder-powered weapon.

Iris' eyes widened as she realized her shot had missed... and a retaliatory pulse burst was heading straight for her.

The IGPU grit her teeth as she slid out of the path of the energy blast, narrowly avoiding it. Even with that near miss, the intensity of the energy charge caused her Share shields to flare with its passing. The swung her sniper back to bear onto Uni, but Black Sister had already engaged her attitude thrusters, shifting to a new position even as her pulse cannon's capacitors recharged.

Iris and Uni fired at almost the same time. The dense slug from the IGPU's rifle touched only air and sea mist as Black Sister cleanly slipped to the side. Iris, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The pulse charge grazed Iri's shoulder, burning away Share energy with its white hot touch.

Iris, however, wasn't nearly as delicate as Uni. The IGPU shrugged off the damage and again locked onto Black Sister. She even almost fired, until a cascade of amethyst energy fell upon her. The seconds-long sniper's duel had allowed Nepgear and Peashy to recover and position themselves for a new angle of attack.

At medium range Iris couldn't hope to evade all of Purple Sister's fire, and she was forced to wildly zigzag as Uni added her own highly accurate fire to the barrage. Iris moved to avoid a pulse blast... which put her right into the path of Peashy.

To her credit, the IGPU morphed Killswitch back to its longsword nigh instantly and as even able to parry away a powerful blow to her head. Shields shimmered and flared as the two engaged in a fierce melee, Peashy's monstrous strength pitted against Iris' well-honed technique.

All it took was a single mistake to upset the equilibrium. Iris parried too low, and the blow that should have slid cleanly off to the side instead bit deep into the shields protecting Iris' shoulder. Spun around by the impact, the IGPU had no way to avoid or defend against the devastating kick that Peashy sent rocketing into Iris' ribs.

The sheer force of the blow completely collapsed Iris' torso barrier and sent the IGPU skipping across the surface of the ocean. Iris bounced a hundred yards before she was able to regain control.

She came to a stop, hovering a foot above the ocean as Peashy and Nepgear closed in, holding station a dozen yards away. Uni hung much farther back, pulse cannon trained on the IGPU's head.

"Please," Purple Sister pleaded. "We just want to investigate this. Really! Let's just talk!"

It was quite a gracious offering, considering the three CPUs had their figurative swords to her throat.

For the moment.

Iris said nothing.

With a thought and an exertion of will, she activated her Semblance Protocol, Avatar.


	8. Chapter 6

**GRAPHIDIMENSION RUBY**

 **By** **Greg Wong**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

* * *

"Umm... that can't be good, can it?" Nepgear heard Yellow Heart ask.

It probably wasn't.

Iris had just glared at them and then started to... glow. Actually, being completely honest, it looked almost like the same as glow when she or the other CPUs transitioned to their goddess aspects. A strong wind also kicked in, with enough force that it would have nudged her back if she hadn't fed a little more power to her boosters.

Wait, no. Not wind. Something didn't feel right. She couldn't really put her finger on it, but whatever it was, it didn't feel like air. It was some kind of... pressure that was pushing her back. What could it be?

"I'm detecting a lot of raw Share energy coming from her direction," Uni said in her head via tightbeam comms. "Like, even more than when one of our sisters transform."

Whoa. That was was a lot of energy. Anytime a goddess transformed, they drew in a huge spike of Share energy for the transition and Processor summoning before stabilizing. If it was more then—

Yow!

She just barely brought an arm up in front of her face as Iris flashed. Not quite as bright as Trinity when the IGPU had done that dazzling attack, but enough that she'd probably be seeing spots if she hadn't shielded her enhanced eyes. She lowered her arms and—

Oh.

Okay, this was new.

Iris herself hadn't changed much. Still had flowing white hair, and an elegant looking dress beneath the icy CORE armor. What was _different_ were Iris' eyes, which were now burning. Totally not a figure of speech, either. They were on _fire_ , with silvery blue flames leaking from the IGPU's eyes. She almost didn't notice that part, though.

Not really her fault, since there was an honest-to-goodness suit of armor floating around Iris. It was at least fifteen feet tall from the soles of its boots—sabatons?—to the top of its crested helmet. The whole thing looked like a fully armored medieval knight, with Iris floating in the middle of its cuirass. Even more, the armor wasn't metal or anything. It looked like it was made of the same bluish fire that burned in the IGPU's eyes.

She caught Iris clenching a fist... and the armor's fist mimicked the motion.

First thought was that she hoped Nepgeardam could be controlled like that, because it looked cool. Second thought was this could turn out quite terribly.

"Uh... I vote run away from the big scary armored lady," she heard Peashy say.

"I could always trying shooting her," she heard Uni say.

"Uh... probably not a good idea, Uni," she replied. "Let's back up a bit and see what happens. Keep weapons deployed. If anything, she can't be all that fast with the giant armor."

She fed power to her flight units and starting to scoot backwards, keeping Lilac's sensors focused closely on Iris. She didn't want any surpris—

"Stop," she heard Iris's voice boom out. There was a faint reverberation through the air, like Iris was being amplified by a set of heavy loudspeakers. Hmm. Maybe she could study that armor and see if she could replicate that effect with Nepgeardam. Maybe the acoustics could—

Guh. She _really_ needed to stop doing that.

"Keep withdrawing," she whispered, letting her throat pickup send the audio to Peashy and Uni.

"So be it," she heard the IGPU whisper.

Iris—

* * *

No!

Ruby gasped as Iris, encased in fiery Share armor, darted forward and took a swing at the CPUs. Fast! Fast enough she wasn't sure if she could have reacted quickly enough with Red Shift if she were in their shoes.

The strike would have hit Uni dead on, but as she watched Nepgear rammed a shoulder into the black CPU and knocked Uni away. Iris' armored fist instead slammed into Nepgear. She felt her eyes widen as the CPU's Share energy shielding _shattered_ into a hundred pieces of light and Nepgear was knocked spinning through the air. She saw Iris' other fist cock back.

She felt herself moving, Axiom Rose materializing from the share currents into her hands. There was a split second of whirling red as she shifted, and then she found herself hurtling in at Iris' armor, no more than a few yards away. She felt herself draw back her scythe. Maybe she could take off its arm? What would that do to Iris, though?

No time to think.

Again that weird sensation of her body moving on its own, and her scythe carved into Iris' Share armor.

Well, tried to. Even though it looked like fire, the share armor was perfectly solid, and Axiom Rose skipped off the armor's forearm as it twisted back to block. So fast...

Share energy flowed, her vision streaked red, and she found herself on the opposite side of Iris, again whirling her scythe, this time to strike the armor's helmet. Again, Iris was fast enough to parry her blow away with another forearm.

The IGPU swiped at her. Her body moved on its own—figure of speech or literally, she still wasn't sure—and angled Axiom Rose so Iris's energy gauntlet slid off to the side in a clean parry. She darted forward, scythe arcing to strike the armor in its chest region, a foot above Iris's head. If Axiom Rose had done any damage in that attack, she couldn't see it.

Frowning, she shifted away, this time opening the distance between herself and the Entel IGPU.

Well, even if she hadn't damaged Iris's Semblance, she'd bought enough time for Uni and Peashy to get back to Nepgear, who looked a little dazed, but unhurt.

Iris turned away from the CPUs to look at her, the armor's helmet copying the movement. She saw the other girl's eyes narrow.

"Stay out of this."

She opened her mouth to reply, but another voice cut her off.

"Iris, calm the hell down," she heard Kabini growl. "This isn't making anything better."

She saw Iris' gaze shift up to look at something behind her. Kabini must've caught up while she'd exchanged blows with Iris.

"And the presence of foreign powers—CPUs from Gamindustri, no less!—isn't helping your case, either."

"Trust me, they're news to me too. I'm going to be asking a _lot_ of questions."

Blinking, she felt herself turn to look at the Emdi IGPU. Kabini looked away from Iris to stare at her. Yikes.

"And why should I believe that?"

"Because you've known me long enough that I—"

She jerked a bit when a glowing window with the heading of a text message from Kabini popped to life a few inches in front of her. She knew it was just augmented reality overlay projected from her CORE that only she could see, though _how_ she knew this, she had no idea. She felt herself gulp as she opened the direct message. In the background she saw Kabini still talking. Now that was some multitasking.

"Don't try to fight," the message said. "Avatar's probably the strongest Semblance in Graphicard, and even on a good day the best you and I could hope for is a _draw._ She could take me, Radeon, and your sister all at once if we weren't at the top of our games."

Her eyes widened. An IGPU could be _that_ powerful?

"A GPU's or IGPU's strength is determined by share energy from the people," Kabini texted. "Entel has the largest population by far. The only reason they can't simply steamroll us and Vida is because they don't have a true GPU."

But hadn't Kabini just said that Iris...?

"And while Iris is extremely strong with her Semblance Protocol up, it doesn't last for long. Just wait it out and we'll have a little more leverage here."

She nodded ever so slightly.

"—There's no record of them entering our airspace. And you _know_ our civilian and military sensor installations are good."

"And why should I believe that?"

"Oh, _damn_ it all Iris!" she heard Kabini snap. "I'll let you review our damn logs! However these CPUs got into Emdi, it wasn't with our knowing."

She watched Iris stare at Kabini for a long while. Then the Entel girl turned to look at her with those silvery-blue burning eyes.

She wanted to blink and look away, but something whispered to her—but not really—to not do that. So she stared at Iris right back. She was starting to wonder if it would be okay to blink when Iris snapped her gaze back to Kabini.

"I'll do so. But those three _are_ coming with us, and if I find any traces of them in your records, we are going to have a _long_ talk."

Iris waved a hand, and with a boom of displaced air, the IGPU's Semblance flickered out.

She let out a sigh of relief, but quietly. At least the fighting hadn't escalated and they could hopefully get everything sorted out back at—

She felt a chill run up her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Something was coming.

* * *

"You all right?" Nepgear heard Uni ask for about the fourth time.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, admittedly a little faintly.

"You sure?" she heard Peashy pipe in. "You're looking kinda pale, Nepgear."

She probably did. Oogh. When Iris had swung at Uni, she hadn't had much time to think. She could either strengthen Uni's personal shield with a directed Share energy boost—Defensive Cheer—like she had done in their fight against Trinity, or try to knock Uni out of the way.

That massive flaming armor looked a teeny bit scary, so she didn't want to risk her shield boosting protocol on Black Sister and have it not do anything. Good thing, too. Her own, stronger, shields had shattered with that single blow and enough of that force had transmitted through that she saw Nepgeardams spinning around her head. Heck, the impact, even dampened by her shields, had been enough to briefly disrupt her neural connection with her Processor, hence the imaginary mechs orbiting her. She'd been hit by Blanc a few times during the international HDD show matches, and even the Lowee CPU's massive axe, swung by probably the strongest CPU in Gamindustri, didn't do that.

Had Uni taken than hit, Defensive Cheer or not, Black Sister would've been looking at broken bones, and possibly internal injuries.

Of course if things had gone perfectly she would've tackled Uni out of the way and they both would've been a-okay, since she was the hero and everything. But no, she'd gotten socked all over by that giant gauntlet. Owwy.

Shaking her head one last time, she focused on the three Graphicard girls. She checked her internal chronometer. Only a few seconds had passed since Iris had walloped her, and with her audio units she could hear Iris and Kabini arguing about what to do about, well, Uni, Peashy, and her.

What to do, what to do? Considering Iris had looked fully prepared to smack them silly, running seemed like a good idea. The way the conversation was going, though, that would make things look bad for Ruby and Kabini. She did owe Ruby and Kaveri quite a bit. The best course of action now was probably to stay put and officially declare themselves to Emdi. Wouldn't be what she originally wanted, but true heroes had to adapt! Besides, as much as she hated to disagree with Sis, maybe a joint effort would've been best from the start.

That said she'd have to be pretty stern and everything on not being put in a lockdown, communications or otherwise. She hoped Ruby might be able to make something happen, but she wondered. As far as she could tell, Ruby was literally a brand new CPU—er, GPU—and who knew if the local government or even the IGPUs would accept that, you know?

She frowned. Nothing could be done about that. The best she could hope to do is cooperate with Emdi and hope—

And hope that shiver she'd just felt run through the Share currents wasn't a bad thing?

"Uh-oh," she heard Peashy say. "That's bad."

Well, then.

"How bad?" she asked.

"Wellll..." Peashy trailed off, pointing.

All around them, near and far, dark swirling things began to appear.

* * *

Ruby's heart started hammering as she saw the first portal appear in the sky.

Same portals. And any moment those IGPUs were going to appear, the same IGPUs that had almost killed her and Kaveri, and had killed so many people along the coast.

Her breathing starting going faster and faster. In out in out in out. Hands started to shiver.

Kaveri wasn't here this time. Sis wasn't here to save her. They would... they would...

She vaguely heard someone calling her name. Ruby. Ruby. But she couldn't pay attention. How to get out? How to escape? Red Shift? Thrusters? If she didn't they would...

She felt something warm spread through her chest, washing away the ice water in her veins.

They couldn't.

She was a GPU of Emdi, channeling the hopes of the people of the island of Emdi. At her side were IGPUs of Graphicard... as well as CPUs of Gamindustri. They wouldn't be killing anyone today.

Breathing slowed. Shaking stopped. The utter terror that had flashed through her mind was fading.

Huh. How much of that was because she started thinking about it logically... and how much of it was the Share currents reassuring her? Who knew?

Who cared?

She was Ruby, GPU of Emdi, and she was not going to fall here.

* * *

Nepgear felt her stomach curl up into little lead ball when the first of the strange not-CPUs emerged from what she assumed was a portal. Ugh. She wondered how often Neptune felt these flip-flops. One time, while they had been on patrol in HDD, she'd asked her sister if she ever got scared. She knew _she_ got scared, from all kinds of things. Failing her nation, failing Neptune, seeing her big sister, or Uni, or IF, or Compa, or any one of her friends hurt. She wondered if that was normal, seeing how Purple Heart was always so cool, always so calm, always so collected. Sis just _had_ to be fearless, right?

But no. That day, as they were up in the sky, Neptune revealed to here that she got scared plenty. She just never let it get in the way, because if that happened, the things she feared _would_ happen. So that's why Neptune never let fear take hold.

She grit her teeth. Okay, okay. It was okay to be scared. She just couldn't let her freeze up, otherwise she _would_ see her friends or herself hurt.

"Peashy, talk to me," she said, her voice a lot steadier than she thought it should be. There seemed to be no end to the clone CPUs.

"Not too fast," Peashy said in a serious voice without any of the goofy Peashyness she was used to. Then she remembered Peashy cared a lot for the other dimension's Vert... and these CPUs had hurt Green Heart. "We should all be faster. They're pretty maneuverable, though. Their blades are sharp, but they're not Share-charged up like your blade or my claws. Weak armor. Oh, and if you see their arms start to glow, watch out. They have energy blast thingies."

"Think I'm fast enough to lead them on?" she heard Uni ask.

"Dunno. You're definitely faster, but there's a lot of 'em. They gang up on you and you'll eventually get surrounded. I mean, they were able to catch up with Bert and me." Considering Vert was the fastest CPU in Gamindustri—either Gamindustri—and Peashy wasn't too far behind, that didn't bode well for Uni. "We were able to handle them okay when they went all touchy-feely with us, but then again we're both a lot tougher than you."

"Well, that kind of sucks," she heard Uni mutter. Then she saw Black Sister blink. "Hey, you said they don't energize their blades, right?"

"Yeah."

"They have anything like our Share barriers? Defensive shields?"

"Not that I remember. Dunno. I just know I could claw 'em up pretty bad once I got past their blades."

She watched Black Sister think for a moment. "All right. Airburst, then."

Had to think. Uh. Hmm. She wasn't sure if Iris still wanted to whack them, but she knew Ruby and maybe Kaveri wouldn't. Would _probably_ be safer to link up with them. Problem was, about three dozen of those creepy CPUs had teleported in between them and the Graphicard girls. Straight line put them right in the middle of the swarm that was growing—ick—bigger, and Peashy's info suggested that would be full of non-fun.

A path that went around would... not solve the problem. Sure, they wouldn't be going smack through the middle of the creepy CPUs, but the longer flight path meant more time, and more time meant the enemy could just move to envelop them anyway. No, no, that wouldn't work.

Wait a second.

She brought up Lilac's waypoint and guidance system. Using her eyes and the augmented reality overlay she sketched a flight path towards Ruby, one that moved around the edges of the swarm initially before looping back in. Yeah. Yeah! That would work!

She'd noticed something when they'd fought Trinity and Iris. They would try to make her and Peashy commit to an attack before maneuvering around to get Uni. Same principle here. Kind of. The outward path would—hopefully—force the CPUs to take off after them. As the swarm spread out for them they would dive back in before it had a chance to collapse in on them.

Risky, but probably their best bet.

She squirted off the flight plan to Yellow Heart and Black Sister. They didn't say anything for a few moments.

"You know," Uni said, "this is a lot riskier than I'm used to seeing from you."

"Yeah!" Peashy piped in. "There's no one to impress, you know!"

She sighed. Why was everyone a critic? Totally unfair. And she was the leader, too!

"But from what I'm seeing, it's probably our best chance," Uni added.

"Don't wanna get cut by those guys again," said Peashy. "Kinda stung."

She nodded. Yay, they believed in her! "Peashy you're in the lead," she said. "You'll have to bulldoze through them quick enough that they don't have to chance to collapse in. When we loop back in, you'll have to find a weak spot and puncture through it."

"Got it!"

She turned to her friend. "Uni, you bring up the rear. Keep them off our tails if we get bogged down. Try to stick to normal fire for now, but use whatever you think keeps us safe. Do you have anything that effects a wide area?"

Black Sister nodded. "Yeah. I can tune the energy blasts into concussion blasts and airbursts."

"Okay. Use those when we go back in. Give Peashy as much help as you can."

"Roger that."

"As for me, I'll be floating between you two," she said. "I can soften up the front ranks with Peashy with my rifle, and I can intercept anything that gets too close to Uni. Just ping me on comms. When we go back into the swarm, I'll shift to tail."

Her friends nodded. She swallowed. It was okay to be a little nervous right?

They could do this, though. She believed in Uni. She believed in Peashy.

And, you know what? She believed in herself.

She oriented herself to face the first virtual waypoint.

"All right, on my mark..."

* * *

Ruby saw the three CPUs from Gamindustri start to move, and then the world went crazy

That sensation of controlling a stranger's body returned, though now, somehow, it didn't feel as _weird_ as it had last night. At least, that's what she was going to tell herself as she whirled Axiom Rose in a wide arc and chopped one of the clone IGPUS in half at the waist. Just like she barely remembered from that day, the IGPU dissolved into glowing dust.

She heard a whisper—her CORE armor sensors or the Share currents, she didn't know—and again felt herself move. An energy wave powered by something other Share power sizzled past her as she twisted out of its way. She morphed Axiom Rose into its cannon form and sent a round back in response, blowing another IGPU to pieces.

She moved and struck, not even really seeing what she was reacting to. Her attitude thrusters fired madly, constantly changing her velocity, and Red Shift activated seemingly without her telling it to.

Or maybe she was, but she just wasn't noticing it.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kabini in her red-trimmed black SHADR smoothly skating around the edges of the fight, laying into the enemy with dual submachine guns. One of the clones got close enough to swipe at Kabini. She watched the IGPU roll out of the way, in the same motion taking her own swing at the enemy. The guns flowed into a new form, forward-curving sickle swords, and Kabini took off an arm, and then the a head on the backswing.

Not too far off she also saw Iris fighting at close range. The Entel IGPU didn't have that spooky Share armor anymore, but it didn't look like it mattered. If anything, Iris was even more graceful than Kabini.

Man. She had a long way to go if she wanted to be a serious GPU.

Another whisper, and she felt herself pivoting in the air, splitting another clone IGPU from groin to head with Axiom Rose's scythe form. Humph.

"Ruby!" she heard Kabini yell over the communications system. "I'm initiating a combat link! Stand by."

She jerked as something flashed across her vision. It made no sense to her for a second, but then the Share currents stepped in again. The augmented reality overlay was a...three-dimensional map, updated collaboratively in real time from data collected from her and Iris' CORE sensors and Kabini's SHADR. All the moving blips made absolutely no sense to her, but at the same time she understood it perfectly.

And one thing she saw were the icons representing Nepgear, Uni, and Peashy, and how they were making this odd path over and around the swarm of black IGPUs.

She'd really only known them for a few hours, but something—something that had nothing to do with the currents—told her she could trust the CPUs. Maybe even be friends once all was said and done.

And it was also going to have to be a team effort if they were going to survive this.

"Kabini! Iris!" she called over the communications system. "Let's form up and meet up with the CPUs!"

"I'll cover you," Kabini transmitted. "Go!"

Iris just grunted.

She took a deep breath. Hopefully this would go decently.

* * *

"Hey!" Nepgear heard Peashy yell to her. "The Graphicard people are heading towards us!"

Oh, goodness. Hrm. She'd made the original flight plan on the assumption that Ruby and the others would stay in the same general area, not that they would move towards her and her friends. She would need to rewrite the whole thing again.

And that was going to be hard. She had to worry about watching Peashy's back, Uni's flanks, and making a new route that wouldn't have them surrounded and chopped to itty bitty pieces.

Hmm. If she altered the second waypoint—

Yah! Her Processor sent out an alarm, forcing her attention to a diving clone that was going to hit Peashy from above. She brought her beam rifle to bear on it and hammered off a laser burst. Just like Peashy had said, the clones didn't have any defensive barriers, so her beams blew it into sparkling dust. Before the shots had even hit, though, she detected a pair heading towards Uni, with a third slicing into the air and launching an energy blast at Black Sister.

Looked like Uni saw them in time, since her friend swung her pulse cannon around and blasted one of the flankers into pieces. Uni couldn't avoid the energy blast, though! She fed energy to her flight units and stepped in front of Uni, letting the energy blast from the third enemy CPU splatter across her personal shield. Owwy. It didn't do much damage, but it sure smarted!

No sooner had she taken the hit when the remaining clone CPU arrived and lunged at Uni. She was pretty sure Uni's shield wouldn't have a problem with deflecting the attack, but better to prevent damage if she could, right? She parried the stab to the side with her rifle blade. She used the momentum to spin herself around, at the same time ramming Share energy into her left glove. She threw a left cross right into the back of the CPU's helmet as it stumbled past, discharging her glove's capacitors on impact.

And the CPU kind of just exploded.

"Hey Nepgear!" she heard Peashy say over the commlink. "Nice punch!"

If Peashy thought it was a good hit, it must be a good hit. Cool!

Of course, she couldn't dwell on it since she had flight path to plan out. Again.

A Nepgear's job could never be easy, could it?

* * *

If Ruby thought meeting up with the CPUs would make things easier, boy was she wrong. It wasn't harder, true, but now that the six of them were concentrated it gave the IGPU swarm only one target to focus on.

Between the combat link and her own sensors she could see how the others fought, and it made her realize how little she knew. She assumed the CPUs had fought side by side at least a few times, but she also assumed Kabini and Iris hadn't. And, of course, the two IGPUs had never fought alongside the CPUs, either.

But even then, she saw them coordinate instinctively. Uni and Iris were in the center of their group, with the Laststation CPU firing airburst blasts from that huge energy cannon and Iris sending out careful shots from Killswitch's sniper rifle form. Peashy and Kabini were orbiting around them, keeping the clones from getting too close. Nepgear was doing both, moving between shooting and melee, helping the others when needed.

Okay, maybe she was being a little harsh on herself. She wasn't being a burden. She had taken a similar reactive position as Nepgear's, moving to wherever she was needed. Axiom Rose needed time to transform between ranged and melee forms, unlike Nepgear's beam rifle, but Red Shift's teleportation made up for that. And while Nepgear's fast-firing rifle could deal with individual IGPUs well, her own slower-firing linear cannon was handier for breaking up clumps of IGPUs if they swarmed.

Her body moved again, and Axiom Rose sliced an arm off an IGPU that had gotten around to Nepgear's back, sending it tumbling. The CPU backhanded the IGPU right in the face... and blew off its head. Then Nepgear raised her energy rifle and hammered into a pair of IGPUs they were flanking Kabini.

She didn't have time to really pay much more attention, as the clones charged at them again.

Move, strike, teleport, block, move again, strike again, morph Axiom Rose, fire, morph again, block again... it was crazy.

She opened up a clone from hip to shoulder with a slash... just in time to see another one coming in right behind it. Not enough time. Twisting herself, she slammed the butt of her scythe into its head, knocking it off course.

Not nearly the right angle to snap its neck, because the IGPU stabilized and gathered itself to—

Drop dead.

Blinking, she watched the IGPU drop out of the sky... along with all the others.

She remembered what that meant.

Oh, no.

"Welp, this is probably going to suck," she heard Peashy say.

Up above them, framed against the noonday sun, were three of the IGPUs.

Except, they weren't like the IGPUs that had just fallen out of the sky, not anymore.

"Your obsolescence is at hand," the three clones said in voices that almost sounded like a normal girl's if they weren't distorted by electronic whines and distortion.

And if they they hadn't been speaking in perfect unison.

"Oh, shut up and come at us," she heard Uni growl.

The clones didn't respond.

Probably because they were too busy charging at them, blades raised.


End file.
